13 Apr 2014

Farm workers play an important role in the social and economic development of the country, Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Mr Edwin Batshu, has said.

“Undoubtedly, these employees are an important pillar for the sustenance of the agricultural sector in the country. Food security and the maintenance of the national herd cannot be guaranteed without their contribution,” he added.

Mr Batshu was responding to a question in Parliament on  April 11 from Okavango MP, Mr Bagalatia Arone, during minister’s question time. Mr Batshu said agricultural employees played a crucial role improving the quality of life of Batswana as most of them relied on agriculture for a living.

In recognition of the important contribution of agricultural employees to development, he said government deemed it prudent to regulate the conditions of employment for these employees, among others.

The employees, Mr Batshu said were covered by labour laws, including the Employment Act which regulated conditions of employment. Most importantly, he said the minimum wage regulations also applied to agricultural employees.

Furthermore, he also said government had just approved an increase in minimum wages for this category of employees from P500 to P550 per month with effect from June 1, 2014. However, he said the Employment Act, Section 84 gave provision for 40 per cent of these wages to be paid in kind.

Other benefits, provided for in the labour laws, he said included; workers compensation in the event of injury or illness arising from employment, severance benefit, annual leave, maternity leave, entitlement to rest days, among others.

However, Mr Batshu pointed out that “the Employment Regulations for Agricultural employees as stated in Statutory Instrument No. 151 of 1984 limits the entitlement of agricultural employees to some conditions of employment that are provided in the Employment Act.”

In particular, he said the provisions of the Act that did not apply to agricultural employees involved; hours of work, paid public holidays and the requirement to keep records, books and accounts in respect of employees by employers.

These exceptions, he said emanated from the peculiar circumstances within the agricultural sector, which in some instances rendered compliance with these requirements difficult.

He said in 2013, his ministry carried out labour inspections in 26 agricultural undertakings in; Ghanzi, Lobatse, Mochudi, Serowe, Francistown, Mahalapye, Kanye, Gaborone, Maun and Selebi-Phikwe. Generally, he said most employers were found to be in compliance with the labour laws.

However, Mr Batshu said some contraventions involving failure by some employers to give employees rest days and to take insurance covered for their employees for the purpose of workers compensation.

He also stated that accessibility into some farms for the purpose of labour inspection remained a challenge, because some farmers kept their farm gates locked. This, he said also made it difficult for his ministry to check employers and workers’ compliance with labour laws. Furthermore, Mr Batshu explained that employees in the agricultural sector did not have fixed hours of work and were therefore not entitled to overtime.

Mr Arone had asked Mr Batshu to explain the conditions of service of farm workers countrywide, in terms of their specific hours of work- when do they start work and when do they knock off.In addition, Okavango MP also wanted the minister to explain whether farm workers were paid overtime, like other workers, in the case where they worked beyond the normal stipulated hours.

He also asked the minister to explain farm workers’ conditions of service regarding their housing, welfare- including their meals, and about underage people employed in farms. ends