Farm workers and their families are standing up against a series of brutal attacks by farmers in the Boland.  They will march on Saturday 13 March from La Colline farm in Robertson to the Robertson police station where a memorandum will be handed over to the Human Rights Commission, highlighting the abuse and assaults by farmers.

The La Colline farm is one of the epicenters of the brutality faced by defenseless families on farms. In less than two months a 14 year old teenager, Eon Fortuin, and Mrs Pieterson a worker at the farm, have both been savagly attached by the farm management.

According to Karel Swaarts. of Commercial Stevedoring Agriculture  and Allied Workers Union (CASAAWU) "The violence at La Colline farm refelcts the fear and the indigity that rural people across the Western Cape face on a a daily basis."

"Workers are intimidated into not going to the police and even when they find the courage, the police behave like the private scrutiny of the farmers and refuse to open cases until we pressure them" said Swaarts.

"We are marching to to stop the continuous  attacks by farmers  on defenseless people and create a environment where workers can live in peace, feel safe and live without intimidation", Swaarts concluded. 

The march is organized under the banner of the Alliance of Land and Agrarian Reform Movements (ALARM).

THE MEDIA ARE CALLED TO COVER THE MARCH:

Date: 13 MArch 2010

Time: 10h00

Gatheing:  La Colline farm, Robertson 

For more information or comment please contact Karel Swarts 076 6626978

Issued by the Alliance of Land and Agrarian Reform Movements (ALARM).