On Friday the 8th September 2023, the team from Woman on Farms Project organised for over 200 women farm workers to march to the Bayer office in Paarl to handover a Memorandum to the Bayer CEO.
The Memorandum demanding an end to the double standards in the international trade of pesticides, and an end to the production and export of over 50 pesticides and active ingredients already banned in Germany, and other European countries.
They are also calling on the European Commission to introduce Europe-wide legislation to end the racist double standards which allows pesticides banned in Europe to be exported to countries in the global South.
At the early morning meeting, woman from farms all around Paarl – and further- shared their stories of being exposed to toxins being sprayed either directly on them, or around their homesteads. Many confirmed that farm owners know the effects of these poisons. One heartbreaking story was of a 7-year-old child of an immigrant worker who was soaked by sprayers and had to be airlifted to the Red Cross Children’s Hospital for a month of treatment following severe asthma attacks, convulsions and skin damage. The mother was released from duty after a doctor engaged with the farm owner over the poisoning.
These women work for R25,42 a day as the National minimum wage and still have rent, utilities and their transport to work deducted from this tiny salary. No healthcare and inadequate protective clothing result in many of them being ill and then not being able to earn a cent. No work, no pay.
After they shared their stories of extreme hardship and continued exploitation, we walked in unity to the Bayer office. The event had been well planned, the organisers secured the required permits to march and requested Bayer senior management to receive their Memorandum. It was noticeably a huge disappointment when the CEO and top management were not there for the handover and the women sent to receive the farm women had little sympathy or humanity even. The handover took ages as she had numerous excuses and it was only after the women voiced their disappointment, she finally accepted their list of demands.
As a young farm worker’s daughter expressed her anger over the Memorandum not being taken seriously, she reiterated the racist double standards of toxin use in South Africa and the fact that these women are still “not seen”.
Project 90 envisions a world where people and earth systems are valued and we head towards a sustainably developed, low carbon and equitable society.
By Lorna Fuller
