The South African Freedom Front Plus (FFP) political party indicated its dismay on Tuesday regarding new proposed legislation, which will ensure housing security to farming employees and their families, enabling employees to farm their own crops and keep their own livestock on the property of the farmer.

The party stated in a release that such legislation would be a step in the wrong direction, as it would enable the employees to farm without the farmer’s consent. This, the party believes, will create a domino effect, which will result in farmers employing fewer workers in order to offset their loss.

The FFP also stated that if government was serious about job creation, as President Jacob Zuma reiterated in his State of The Nation Address last week, the employment circumstances should be made more favourable to employers.

The FFP also stated that the proposed legislation change was raising concerns in the farming community, because this legislation would provide the employees with more rights to the farmer’s ground than the farmer.

“This will not only lead to more retrenchments on farms, but also threatens the partnership between the farming community and the government, placing significant pressure on food security,” read the statement.

“The FFP feels that the government is sending out mixed messages to agriculture and, more importantly, to commercial farmers. This has already contributed to the retrenchment of thousands of employees in this sector, and will result in more job losses if this legislation is inaugurated,” FFP Free State Member of Provincial Parliamentary Legislation Jan van Niekerk said.

He added that this legislation would also bring about significant urbanisation, as people leave the farms for opportunities in towns and cities. “This will also cause greater dependence on State allowances and welfare, as these opportunities are scarce,” he said.

The party also felt that this was a creeping annexation of farmland, which was moving in the direction of the nationalisation of farms and the access of land without remuneration.

The proposed legislation would also allow employees to provide housing and burial ground to their extended families, that employees would have the right to keep livestock and provide grazing, and that employees would have the right to build as many houses as they wanted, as well gain access to commercial farming practices.