Rural Women’s Assembly Joins Global Celebrations of ‘International Rural Women’s Day’ By Mercia Andrews

Right to food in South Africa for the poor in the rural areas, in the coastal villages and for those living/working on farms was compromised because land reform was slow and more than 80 of land remained in the hands of only 40 000 large-scale commercial farmers. Speaker after speaker told stories of how they struggled to survive, struggled to make ends meet. They complained about the rising costs of basic food and the lack of access to the sea and rights to harvest marine resources. As one of the leaders from Mawubuye Land Rights Forum said: ‘Farm workers continue to earn very low wages, mostly the money is not enough to buy food for the month, we struggle to feed our children.’
After the meeting, the women gathered in Cape Town and marched to parliament. It was sea of green T-shirts, banners and posters demanding land, food and jobs in the rural areas. At parliament, the petition was handed to representatives of the ministry of rural development and the ministry of agriculture. Both these representatives were extremely vague and non-committal in their responses to the demands for land, food and an end to farm evictions.
The RWA stated that ‘we have to put a stop to land grabs and the commodification of food! Agribusiness drives millions of rural women, farm workers, peasants and family farmers, women and men, off their land, leaving the countryside without farmers, leading to a concentration of land in the hands of a few!’ Forward to a world where there is no hunger!