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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PRETORIA 002144 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV SF
SUBJECT: SAG SERVICES FALLING SHORT IN SOUTH AFRICA'S 
FARMLANDS 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  Challenges the SAG faces in extending social services to 
the rural poor were evident on a recent visit to the tiny 
township of Tigane, in the mostly rural Northwest Province, 
to observe a community forum between local social workers and 
government officials.  Discussion centered on provision of 
SAG monetary grants, health care, public services, job 
creation, and schooling to the area's poor and underserved 
black families, particularly farm workers historically 
subject to abuse by employers and neglect by the SAG.  The 
'town hall' style workshop was organized by local NGO Hurisa 
with USG funding.  The event boosted public awareness of 
rights and services, not just in theory but in actionable 
practice, and it encouraged grass-roots dialogue to promote 
take-up of SAG services.  End Summary. 
 
-------------------------------- 
Background: DHRF Grant to Hurisa 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  On September 12 poloff attended one of nine USG-sponsored 
workshops to be held in three underdeveloped provinces, led 
by the Human Rights Institute of South Africa (Hurisa).  The 
latter local NGO is the recipient of a $27,000 USG grant to 
improve awareness among rural communities of their 
socio-economic rights and entitlements to basic government 
services.  This funding is from DRL's annual Democracy and 
Human Rights Fund (DHRF).  Hurisa is a rights advocacy NGO 
focused since 1995 on the plight of women in poor and 
underdeveloped rural areas.  This project proposes to 
increase women's awareness of their socio-economic rights, 
mechanisms for redress, and government delivery of basic 
services; to support advocacy to improve conditions in rural 
areas; and to encourage dialogue on rights between government 
and civil society.  The project began with a 
train-the-trainer workshop in Johannesburg to coach nine 
community social workers from three of South Africa's poorest 
and most neglected provinces (Northwest, Limpopo, and Eastern 
Cape).  Participants then lead workshops in their home areas 
for a minumum of 15 local community workers. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
Northwest Province: Afrikaner Farms, and Mines 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶3.  The Northwest province was targeted for Hurisa's 
workshops because government services often do not reach its 
poor and dispersed rural population.  The provincial license 
plate -- depicting a cow, a sunflower, and an ear of corn -- 
illustrates that this is farming country, with a landscape 
much like that of the U.S. Midwest.  The license plate also 
reflects the region's other major industry -- mining for 
gold, platinum, and (lately) uranium -- with a picture of an 
old-time shaft and the slogan "The Platinum Province." 
 
¶4.  The Northwest is a heavily Afrikaans-speaking area, a 
core territory colonized by Boer settlers, and a former 
heartland of support for the apartheid system.  While 
extremes of rich and poor exist throughout South Africa, they 
are all the more striking in small towns, where a swanky golf 
club is just around the bend from a field of shanty shacks. 
Here where mines and farms are nearly the only sources of 
jobs for poor blacks, there continue to be reports of abuse 
of laborers by employers, as well as periodic incidents of 
reprisal killings of white farm owners.  Yet there are also 
glimpses of gradual progress: a prosperous-looking school, 
Qglimpses of gradual progress: a prosperous-looking school, 
probably once segregated for whites only, was crowded at 
recess with uniformed black children, suggesting brighter 
prospects for the next generation. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Tiny Tigane Township: Off the Map 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  Poloff observed the third of Hurisa's workshops in the 
Northwest, this one held in Tigane, a township too small to 
appear even on detailed road maps.  On a low rise overlooking 
farmlands, we found Tigane, a cluster of standard two-room 
homes.  The settlement is just large enough to possess a town 
hall, a high-ceilinged brick room with a stage.  The two 
dozen participants were mostly women, of all ages, both farm 
 
PRETORIA 00002144  002 OF 003 
 
 
worker representatives and social workers caring for orphans, 
disabled persons, and HIV/AIDS patients.  They opened the 
meeting with enthusiastic singing of traditional hymns. 
Discussion was then conducted partly in English, for the 
benefit of Hurisa's project officer not from this region, and 
partly in the local language of Sutswana. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
Social Development Programs - and Hurdles 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  After an overview by Hurisa of human rights fundamentals, 
SAG officials gave short presentations outlining public 
services to which audience members were entitled.  Officials 
appeared to be knowledgeable in their fields, genuinely 
dedicated to the community's welfare, and eager for the 
audience to know what the SAG could offer them.  The 
Department of Social Development (DSD)'s Matilda Malefo 
enumerated family and child care programs; SAG grants for 
child support, disability, and old age; and specialized care 
for HIV/AIDS and substance abuse.  In these areas, DSD 
outreach officers were assigned to visit Tigane twice a week, 
she said.  Job creation programs were targeting the local 
agriculture, mining, and tourism sectors in activities like 
livestock breeding and fish farming.  A poverty alleviation 
fund was accepting proposals for community cooperatives, such 
as a brick making venture under consideration in Tigane. 
 
¶7.  The audience bombarded Malefo with problems.  Foremost 
was the hurdle of identity cards, which many rural people 
lacked.  Social workers were unable to assist unregistered 
persons in obtaining grants.  Mothers who lacked IDs could 
not get birth certificates for babies.  One old person had 
waited six years for a home visit by DSD to become eligible 
for old age grants.  Malefo acknowledged that visits to 
distant farms could indeed be infrequent.  (One social worker 
later told poloff, "They say they do all these things," she 
said, "but in fact we never see them!")  Asked whether Social 
Development had sufficient resources to fulfill its mandates, 
Malefo replied that DSD did have money but was hampered by 
its shortage of social workers.  Community workers complained 
that the "jobs" created by DSD were unpaid volunteer roles in 
HIV/AIDS home care and orphans' centers, with financial 
support limited to transport and supplies.  Transport to and 
from the distant farms was an obstacle for all concerned. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Health Care Aspirations -- and Realities 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  A representative of the Department of Health (DoH) 
announced that a new health center had been established 
nearby, for access to HIV/AIDS antiretroviral (ARV) therapy 
and tuberculosis medications, eliminating longer trips to the 
more distant district hospital.  Community representatives, 
however, asserted that medicines at local clinics were 
chronically in short supply.  "Whatever you come for, all 
they have is Panadol," said one vexed social worker.  The DoH 
officer attributed the hiccups to a shortage of staff, with 
one of his two staff on maternity leave and the other having 
to cover administrative, statutory, and court case duties as 
well as tending to patients in the field. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Municipal Initiatives -- Stymied by Farmers 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  The role of the City Council was to allocate state land 
Q9.  The role of the City Council was to allocate state land 
for public use, such as for schools or police stations, to 
provide public sports and recreation facilities, and to 
furnish public utility services such as water, electricity, 
and refuse removal.  Council member Mr. Fezile Canga admitted 
that Matlosana was still struggling to fulfill the minimum 
requirements of clean water, flush toilets, electricity, and 
street lighting for all residents as specified in the SAG's 
Rural Development Plan.  But progress was being made, 
including in the extension of piped water in lieu of failing 
wells. 
 
¶10.  The municipality's economic development section was 
working to acquire farm land for public use and to encourage 
new business growth.  A new uranium mine would soon generate 
new jobs, population, housing, and ancillary businesses, and 
the Mayor had further stipulated community development 
commitments from business investors.  Through a Black 
 
PRETORIA 00002144  003 OF 003 
 
 
Economic Empowerment (BEE) initiative, the mine would 
establish a technical college in an old disused hostel 
building, to teach area workers the skills to develop mine 
inputs and materials locally.  Matlosana was even hosting a 
Global Investors Conference in Klerksdorp in late September, 
in an effort to showcase regional businesses and attract 
foreign investment. 
 
¶11.  The Executive Mayor had launched "people's forums" with 
all government departments in attendance, available to assist 
community petitioners.  When the municipality held public 
meetings, however, few citizens attended, and too often the 
meetings degenerated into debates on national politics. 
Canga appealed to the audience to attend those meetings, so 
that one hundred residents would not make decisions for 
thousands.  Matlosana had newly received a development grant 
of 210 million Rand (about $28 million), and Canga urged 
community leaders to participate in the allocation of those 
funds according to their local needs -- "not a Freedom Square 
like Soweto, not a swimming pool, but practical things for 
Tigane." 
 
¶12.  A participant raised the matter of poor school 
attendance by farm workers' children, due to long travel 
distances and lack of transport.  This was not being detected 
because of officials' infrequent visits to distant 
properties.  Canga responded that schools, including farm 
schools, were the responsibility of the Department of 
Education (DoE), which was also the provider of bus 
transport.  The municipality could, however, lobby the DoE on 
its citizens' behalf.  (Comment: Local governments' lack of 
involvement in school issues, and in the effort to ensure 
farm workers' rights are respected, is symptomatic of a 
larger, structural problem.  End comment.) 
 
¶13.  Canga candidly acknowledged that on area farms there 
were still problems of beatings of laborers, of withholding 
of electricity, and of denial by farmers of access to roads 
crossing their property.  In townships the municipality was 
proceeding with implementation of public works like roads, 
lighting, and plumbing, but on private farm land they 
required farm owners' written consent, which was on some 
occasions refused.  Care of farm workers was historically and 
legally considered to be the duty of the farm owner.  The 
Council could do "very little" for farm workers other than 
urge farmers to sell the land.  A land audit was being taken 
to highlight parcels which were leased, rather than privately 
owned, where the municipality could exert more influence. 
 
BOST