Farm workers recently raised allegations of pesticide-linked deaths at a three-day long tribunal, which SMF News attended.
South African People’s Tribunal on Agrotoxins (SAPToA), a voluntary association, held the proceedings at Stellenbosch Protea Hotel to highlight the agrotoxins in the public sphere, according to Haidee Swanby, the SAPToA coordinator, in correspondence with SMF News.
Commissioner Philile Ntuli of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) joined the tribunal as a juror. This followed the commission’s meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture on 4 February to discuss the human rights implications of agricultural pesticides.
Judge Navi Pilla and Dr Sophia Kisting-Cairncross were also jurors during the tribunal.
Farm workers at The South African People’s Tribunal on Agrotoxins (SAPToA) held a moment of silence for children and farm workers who have died because of pesticide use, or who have been negatively affected by it. PHOTO: Aubrey Phungo
“Most of our farm owners, they do not take us farm workers into consideration,” claimed Lara Boer, a Northern Cape farm worker, during an opening message at the tribunal which was held on 21 to 23 March.
Health-related issues on pesticide poisoning
According to Dr Cindy Stephen, the director of the Poisons Information Centre at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Cape Town, 14% of the calls they receive at the poison information centre are due to pesticide poisoning.
“Notifiable medical conditions in South Africa, by law, are over 40 or 50 [recognised public health diseases],” claimed Stephen. “Interestingly, pesticide poisoning is one of them.”
Prof Rojen Naidoo, an occupational and environmental health physician at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, claimed that the number of poisoning cases does not influence national attention until a lot of people are affected.
“When it reaches epidemic proportions, everybody pays attention,” claimed Naidoo. “What about the longer term effects of the affected people?”
Farm workers attending the South African People’s Tribunal on Agrotoxins (SAPToA) made posters, demanding action from government officials to ban the use of pesticides. PHOTO: Anke Spies
Pesticide affects farm workers
Dina Ndleleni, a farm worker from De Doorns, claimed that she spent two weeks in hospital as a six-year-old after exposure to pesticides. She testified that she was born on a farm and has been working there for about 40 years.
Mekie Piet, whose husband worked as a pesticide sprayer, testified that her husband got sick two years ago, suffering from vomiting and headaches.
When they visited the doctor, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer due to pesticide poisoning and needed a high-risk operation, claimed Piet.
When Piet’s husband was discharged from the hospital, the doctor said that he would not be able to work anymore because of his condition.
Bongani Mthembu, the air quality and health officer at the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), providing context on the United Phosphorus Limited (UPL) chemical disaster that affected residents of the Blackburn village informal settlement in Kwa-Zulu Natal, when there was toxic fallout from the fire at the UPL Cornubia warehouse in July 2021. Mthembu was speaking during the South African People’s Tribunal on Agrotoxins (SAPToA). PHOTO: Aubrey Phungo