Die behuisingsvoorkeure van plaaswerkers in Stellenbosch

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The purpose of the study is to explore the perceptions and preferencesregarding house ownership on the part of farmworkers living in the DevonValley/ Stellenbosch Kloof (Devonkloof') area outside Stellenbosch.A study such as this is important for more than one reason: the institution oftied housing on South African farms, is probably the factor that contributesmost to farmworkers' dependence on the farmer and the control that the latterexercises over the employee and his family. In the most recent period thisvulnerability has increased as farmers, especially in the Western Cape, havestarted to adopt a more businesslike approach towards worker housing.When farmers refer to a productive house, they point to an arrangementwhereby it is expected from every able person in a household to make him- orherself available for farm work - especially during the harvest. In this waymembers of the farmworker community are denied the opportunity ofpermanent, better paid employment outside the farm. Women are the onesthat are mainly affected by the scaling down of the benevolent side ofpaternalism.However, for the first time in South African history the opportunity now existsto break this dependence, or at least to reduce it. This possibility flows fromthe convergence of a variety of developments, the most important of which isthe launching of the post-apartheid government's housing subsidy scheme forfarmworkers. In essence, the latter boils down to an arrangement wherebyfarmworkers can apply to the Department of Land Affairs for an amount ofR 15 000 when wanting to obtain land or a house.Another recent development which reduces farmworkers' dependence, is theconcept legislation regarding security of tenure. lt lends protection against eviction especially to older farmworkers who have worked on the farm for tenyears or more.That farmworkers are concerned about life after retirement and have anintense desire for secure housing, is not much of a secret. In order toeffectively address this concern, financially viable housing alternatives needto be developed. For instance, provident fund/ pension scheme paymentscould be used in combination with state housing subsidies in order to obtainown title for workers. However, in order to be viable, it is equally important totake into account the perceptions and housing preferences of the workersthemselves. To gauge these is the main objective of the study.For purposes of the study, the unit of analysis was defined as the head of thehousehold (male or female) who lives on the farm, is engaged in a permanentcontractual relation with the farmer and belongs to one of the Devonkloofprovident funds. A random sample of 93 such farmworkers was drawn from atotal population of 188 heads of households spread over 13 farms in theresearch area. Their perceptions and preferences regarding housing wereexplored during interviews conducted on the basis of a semi-structuredquestionaire. The interviews were held by the researcher himself and anumber of final year Social Work students at the University of Stellenbosch.Data collected in this way, was analysed through the utilisation of the SPSSstatistical package.The socio-economic profile of the workers involved in the study, confirms to alarge extent the prevailing portrait of permanent farmworkers in the WesternCape: they are almost exclusively male and Afrikaans speaking. Theirliteracy level is relatively low and the majority earns a cash wage ofR100-150 per week. Three-quarters have never left their farm for alternativework. Of those that have, many only did so to work for short stints on anotherfarm. As a result, most of the workers involved know of no other existencethan the (neo-)paternalist life world of the farm.The familiarity of the farm is one of the reasons why slightly more than 50% ofwofkers indicated that they would prefer to live on the farm during theirworking lives. When thinking about life after retirement, housing in the(imaginary) agrivillage was the most popular choice. Although a large numberof farmworkers are ignorant about the government's housing subsidy scheme,the majority is clear about one thing: they would like to own their own dwelling- whether on the farm or outside the white gates, because the own house isthe route to less vulnerability, more independence and security.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University