GroundUp reports that the High Court in Gqeberha has granted an interim interdict to farm owners in the Sundays River Valley Municipality in the Eastern Cape preventing protesting workers and their supporters from coming within 500 metres of farms.

On Monday, Acting Judge Anusha Rawjee heard an urgent application by the farm owners following several days of mass protests by both farm workers and residents of Kirkwood and Addo townships. Among the protestors’ demands are for farm owners to increase their wages by R30 and for fewer immigrants to be employed. The protests are being led by leaders of the SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco). On Friday, thousands of protesters shut down the towns and set alight a tractor and hostels believed to house immigrant workers. According to court ruling, union leaders Mbuyiseli Patrick Bayini, Nicholas Handile and Andile Williams are barred from interfering with the activities of Wicklow Citrus, a farm that lodged the application. Other applicant farmers named in the papers include Habata Boerdery. Outside court, farmer Hannes Joubert, CEO of the Habata Group, told GroundUp that the violence by protesters had forced him to hire a private security company to protect his property and workers. Joubert said workers on his farm were paid R23.19 per hour in accordance with the law and he went on to comment: “The industry as a whole is in a bad position. There’s huge pressure on exports. The international shipping lines cannot cope with the aftermath of the destruction of the world distribution network and the war in Ukraine.” The final ruling on the interdict will be heard in June.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thamsanqa Mbovane at GroundUp

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