8 October 2026
Over 100 farm workers marched to Parliament in Cape Town on Thursday, calling on Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson to release public land for housing and redistribution to workers. Photos: Ashraf Hendricks
About 150 farm workers marched to Parliament in Cape Town on Thursday, calling on Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson to release public land for housing and for redistribution to farm workers.
They chanted “resistance everywhere, all the time” and carried placards reading, “We want land for housing” and “We want justice” as they walked through Hanover Street.
The march followed the three-day National Farm Worker Platform, hosted by the Women on Farms Project (WFP). About 15 farm worker organisations from across South Africa participated, including the Casual Workers Advice Office, the Rural Women’s Assembly, and unions representing farm workers such as the Commercial Stevedoring Agricultural and Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU) and Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU).
The platform gave farm workers an opportunity to raise concerns and engage with officials from government departments. Representatives from the departments of employment and labour as well as land reform and rural development also attended.
The event ended with Thursday’s march, where the organisations called for an urgent meeting with Macpherson and for public land to be redistributed to “farm workers and farm dwellers who have often lived and worked on the land for generations”.
Farm workers want public land released for women small-scale farmers and to be used to house farm workers.
In their memorandum, the groups said: “Limited access to land remains a major contributing factor to the inhumane conditions experienced by many families living and working in farming communities”.
Carmen Louw, WFP co-director, said the organisation had seen an increase in evictions in the Stellenbosch area. She said WFP want people who work and live on farm to have access to housing and land to grow food for their families.
Engela van Schalkwyk, who lives on a farm in De Doorns, said her mother lived and worked on a farm for nearly 60 years. When she retired, she had to leave the farm and the home she had lived in her whole life.
“The farmers are getting richer … but our farm workers own nothing. We want decent houses,” she said.
Van Schalkwyk said secure land tenure would make a “huge difference” in her mother’s life. Land tenure gives people legally recognised rights to live on and use the land they occupy, without the risk of being evicted.
Public Works did not send a representative to receive the group’s memorandum or respond to GroundUp’s questions by the time of publication.