Mar 19, 2003 - Centre for Research on Women's (1999) report on domestic violence in India. ..... seasonal workers, a committee member did call a meeting of ...
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND DEVELOPMENT: Looking at the Farming Context
Based on research conducted by the Consortium on Violence against Women: Institute of Criminology, University of Cape Town Gender Project, Community Law Centre, University of the Western Cape Rape Crisis Cape Town Women on Farms Project, Stellenbosch
Penny Parenzee and Dee Smythe
Published by the Institute of Criminology University of Cape Town Private Bag Rondebosch 7701 South Africa © 2003 Institute of Criminology All rights reserved. ISBN 0-7992-21-82-1
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior permission. To be cited as: Parenzee, P. and Smythe, D. (2003) Domestic Violence and Development: Looking at the Farming Context. Institute of Criminology, University of Cape Town: South Africa. The views of the authors expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute of Criminology or the Open Society Foundation.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the following people for their valuable time, dedication and contribution to the development of this report.
Farm workers, farm management, health care workers and organisational staff for setting aside their time to participate in the research.
Our colleagues who gave input and support throughout the writing process and indulged us in our endless existential debates.
Zanele Ntambo for her capable and sensitive translation when interviewing Xhosa speaking farm workers.
Daniel Sass for facilitating introductions and access.
Members of the Consortium on Violence Against Women for information, comments and ongoing support: Lillian Artz, Raygaanah Barday, Heléne Combrinck, Tanya Jacobs, Nolitha Mazwayi, Kelley Moult and Sam Waterhouse.
Finally, Without ongoing support, assistance and encouragement from the Open Society Foundation and, in particular, Cheryl Frank, this research would not have been realised.
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CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 LILTERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................... 3 1 2 3 4 5
Introduction .................................................................................... 3 Women Farm Workers in the Western Cape ............................................... 3 Alcohol .......................................................................................... 4 The Domestic Violence Act and the Criminal Justice System .......................... 5 Development and Domestic Violence....................................................... 6
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 1 2 3
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Purpose ......................................................................................... 8 The Development of Instruments .......................................................... 8 Participants in the Study .................................................................... 9 3.1 Farm Workers........................................................................... 9 3.1.1 BOX: Profile of farm workers interviewed ................................ 10 3.2 Farm Management .................................................................... 11 3.2.1 BOX: The relationship between workers and management on farms 12 3.3 Health Care Workers ................................................................. 12 3.4 Non-governmental organisations .................................................. 13 3.4.1 BOX: How do organisations see themselves............................... 13 Interview Process............................................................................. 14 4.1 Access .................................................................................. 14 4.1.1 Farms: Farm Workers and Management.................................... 14 4.4.2 Health Care Workers and Non-governmental organisations............. 15 4.2 Language ............................................................................... 15 4.3 The interviews ........................................................................ 16 4.4 Confidentiality ........................................................................ 16
CHAPTER 4 PERVASIVENESS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.................................................17 1 2
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Introduction ................................................................................... 17 Becoming Aware of Domestic Violence.................................................... 17 2.1 Farm Workers.......................................................................... 17 2.2 Farm Management .................................................................... 18 2.3 Health Care Workers ................................................................. 19 2.4 Non-governmental organisations ................................................... 20 Nature of the Violence ...................................................................... 21 3.1 Farm Workers.......................................................................... 21
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3.2 Farm Management .................................................................... 21 3.3 Health Care Workers ................................................................. 21 3.4 Non-governmental organisations ................................................... 22 Who is Involved ............................................................................... 23 4.1 Farm Workers.......................................................................... 23 4.2 Farm Management .................................................................... 23 4.3 Health Care Workers ................................................................. 24 4.4 Non-governmental organisations ................................................... 24 Triggers and Justifications .................................................................. 25 5.1 Farm Workers.......................................................................... 25 5.2 Farm Management .................................................................... 26 5.3 Health Care Workers ................................................................. 26 5.4 Non-governmental organisations ................................................... 27 5.5 BOX: Alcohol and Drugs .............................................................. 28
CHAPTER 5 DEALING WITH DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ON FARMS.......................................30 1 2 3
Introduction ................................................................................... 30 Within the Community (Internal) .......................................................... 30 Outside of the Community (External) .................................................... 34 3.1 Farm Management .................................................................... 34 3.2 Health Care Workers ................................................................. 35 3.3 Non-governmental organisations ................................................... 36 3.3.1 Immediate Responses......................................................... 36 3.3.2 Long Term Responses......................................................... 37 3.3.3 The Developmental Response ............................................... 38 3.4 State Responses: The Domestic Violence Act..................................... 39 BOX: Obtaining Protection under the Domestic Violence Act ................. 39 3.4.1. Knowledge and Experiences of the Domestic Violence Act..................... 40 3.4.1.1 Farm Workers ............................................................... 40 3.4.1.2 Farm Management.......................................................... 42 3.4.1.3 Health Care Workers ....................................................... 43 3.4.1.4 Non-governmental organisations .......................................... 45
CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSION...................................................................................................47 1 2 3 4 5
Introduction ................................................................................... 47 Domestic Violence and Development...................................................... 48 The Domestic Violence Act and Criminal Justice Response ............................ 50 Taking a Multi-Pronged Approach to Domestic Violence ............................... 51 Concluding Remarks and Key Points for Consideration ................................. 53
REFERENCES .................................................................................................56 APPENDIX: Interview Schedule...........................................................................58
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION There is very little information available about domestic violence in the farming context, despite the fact that rates of domestic violence are suggested to be very high in such communities.1 This research project is exploratory in nature and sets out to consider the prevalence of domestic violence on selected farms in the Western Cape and the nature of current responses to this problem. In so doing, we hope to illustrate the complex interaction between domestic violence and structural dependency and to consider the impact and implications of this relationship for the effectiveness of any response to domestic violence. We are particularly interested in the intersection between law, development and domestic violence and, as such, have focussed predominantly on the responses of non-governmental organisations to domestic violence and the effectiveness of the Domestic Violence Act. The research report is structured as follows:
Literature Review The literature review draws together a wide range of topics, including regional and national research on the condition of farm workers and women farm workers specifically; as well as general literature on the relationship between violence against women, gender and development. A recurring theme in the literature considered is the extent of alcohol abuse in this context and its relationship to domestic violence.
Methodology This section describes our research methods, provides an overview of the research process and sets out who the participants in the study were.
Research findings: Pervasiveness of Domestic Violence In this section we describe the responses of each of the participating groups to questions designed about the interviewees' experiences, perceptions and attitudes towards domestic violence. These questions included the following:
whether and how they encountered incidents of domestic violence
who was involved in the violence
what form the violence takes
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what triggers the violence
whether alcohol was perceived as playing a significant role in domestic violence
Research findings: Dealing with Domestic Violence on Farms In this section we explore the responses to domestic violence of farm workers, farm management, health care workers and organisational staff, as well as the effectiveness and utility of the Domestic Violence Act in the context of a marginalised community, marked by women's extreme dependency on men.
Discussion In our discussion we focus on two core areas:
Domestic Violence and Development; and
The Domestic Violence Act and Criminal Justice Response.
In this section we raise, in particular, our concern that responses to domestic violence occurring, as they do, in a context of skewed gender relations, may in fact serve to increase women's vulnerability to further domestic violence. We conclude with the need to take a multi-pronged approach to dealing with domestic violence and offer key points for consideration.
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When we speak of communities we are referring to farm worker communities, which comprise of both seasonal and permanent workers living on the farm.
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CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 1. INTRODUCTION Domestic violence is a complex social problem, which is even further complicated when it occurs within a context where people's lives are focussed on basic survival. This complexity naturally extends into the means adopted by victims, their communities and outsiders for dealing with domestic violence. As a result, our literature review was wide-ranging. We started by looking at the position of women farm workers in the Western Cape, focussing on factors that may serve to increase vulnerability to violence and to inhibit access to the justice system. Of particular concern in this respect is the use of alcohol and drugs. The problem of alcohol is especially acute in the Western Cape, with its preponderance of wine farms. Given that organisations working with farm workers place a substantial emphasis on development as a means of reducing vulnerability to domestic violence, we also looked at literature that speaks to the relationship between violence and development.
In particular, we searched for and failed to find a
thoroughgoing analysis of the role that development initiatives may play in inadvertently increasing the risk of domestic violence. We also considered existing literature that reflects on constraints within the criminal justice system around the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act.
2. WOMEN FARM WORKERS IN THE WESTERN CAPE The agricultural work force is generally recognised as one that is particularly exploited and vulnerable.
Job security is limited, as is housing, which is generally of a poor standard;
wages are low, and access to basic health and educational services is difficult. Within this context women are especially vulnerable to exploitation, with Sunde and Kleinbooi's (1999) research on women farm workers in the Western Cape reflecting a number of disturbing statistics, including that:
51% of farmers included the services of a male worker's female partner in his employment contract by 'tacit agreement';
60% of farmers insisted that the female partner also be available to work;
only 37% of farmers interviewed the female partner before employing her;
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52,4% of women interviewed as part of the study reported that their housing was linked to their male partner's employment;
48,6% of farmers indicated that if the male partner died or left the farm for any reason his family would also have to leave.
Given the unequal power relations that exist between men and women in this context, it is not surprising that women living on farms are vulnerable to high levels of domestic violence. From a sample of 112 farmers, Sunde and Kleinbooi also report that:
67% said that there was domestic violence on their farms; while
7,1% were unsure.
25% reported that sexual harassment of women occurred on their farms.
Fast's (1997) report examining conditions on Western Cape farms contains a wealth of information around farm structures, wages and working conditions. In particular, she notes the extreme vulnerability of women farm workers and their proliferating employment in casual and seasonal work on farms. Fast notes that, despite the tenuous position of women on farms and the implications that this carries for household security, men are particularly averse to women's involvement in trade unions and other activities aimed at improving their position.
This reluctance, which runs through many descriptions of the farming context,
receives little further analysis. To our minds, it is however essential to understanding the relationship between women's continued poverty and their vulnerability to domestic violence. Of substantial concern to us in conducting the literature review and in preliminary discussion with various role-players, was the recurring theme of alcohol and substance abuse.
3. ALCOHOL Hill Lanz (1994) describes alcohol use on farms as 'the most blatant survival strategy adopted by both men and women'.
It is embedded in the farming context and despite concerted
efforts to address this problem it remains deeply entrenched. A recent cover story by a US news magazine, US News and World Report (Glasser, 20 June 2002) suggests, for example, that up to 1 in 5 vineyards in the Western Cape still gives wine to their workers as part payment for their labour. We also received further reports of alcohol being sold to farm workers for as little as R2 per bottle. Alcohol abuse is seen as playing a significant role in domestic violence incidents (see, for example Mathews and Abrahams, 2001). The relationship between violence and alcohol is, however, difficult to define. Two interlinked explanations are offered by Barnett and Fagan (1993,1): in the first place, alcohol acts pharmacologically to disinhibit the drinker, removing normal constraints on aggressive behaviour; and secondly, people learn to behave in certain ways when they are drunk, knowing that their behaviour will be tolerated and excused. This 4
'excusing' of violent behaviour while under the influence of alcohol serves to normalise such conduct within communities. Two recent studies by the Australian Institute of Criminology (Makai, 1997 and 1998), looking at the relationship between alcohol usage, crime and antisocial behaviour, also suggest that alcohol use increases the risk of being both a perpetrator and victim of crime, particularly in the case of binge-drinkers. This risk is exacerbated by cramped living conditions and a myriad of other stressors. It should not however, as Dangor, Hoff and Scott (1998) point out, be misconstrued as a reason for the abuse and more work is undoubtedly required to consider the factors that lead to alcohol abuse in the farming context.
4. THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM The Tshwaranang Women's Legal Advocacy Center's submission to the South African NonGovernmental Organisation Coalition's (SANGOCO) poverty hearings (1998), dealing with the relationship between poverty and violence against women, makes the important (and perhaps trite) point that the legal system is simply not geared to dealing with poor people. Knowledge of legal rights is inevitably the privilege of the literate, effective access to the system generally requires legal representation, which is prohibitively expensive, as is service of documents by the Sheriff of the Court. These factors are substantially more acute in rural areas, where literacy rates are particularly low and women are geographically further isolated from possible assistance. Additional concerns are emphasised by Artz (1997) whose work in the Southern Cape points to the difficulty for rural women of accessing basic social and legal services where substantial distances need to be travelled using poor public (or expensive private) transport. Telecommunications facilities are often non-existent – at best they are substantially limited and very expensive. Artz raises a number of other social welfare issues: the need to pay for a child-minder where the mother has to go into town, the complete lack of shelters for women who choose or are forced to leave their homes and a lack of affordable and sustainable medical treatment for such women. Furthermore, rural women are not in a position to pay for the services required, transport or alternative accommodation. The lack of faith that farm workers have in the criminal justice system is emphasised by Human Rights Watch (2001), whose recent report into state responses to violent crimes on South African farms points to the rape and sexual assault of black women farm workers by other farm workers or farm residents as a common occurrence. Predictably, one of their findings is that farm workers see the criminal justice response as inadequate for dealing with such incidences of violence. This tallies with the concern noted by Artz that police response times are often inadequate and that attitudinal issues within the police service remain
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problematic when it comes to dealing with poor rural women and rural communities in general. These concerns are echoed in two recent reports on the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act. The first, produced by the Consortium on Violence Against Women (Parenzee, Artz and Moult, 2001), draws on content analyses of 616 files and over 60 interviews with criminal justice personnel in three magisterial districts.
While emphasising the value of
domestic violence legislation, it points to a number of barriers to effective implementation, including a lack of resources, poor levels of training, the dearth of support services outside of the criminal justice system and the persistence of prejudice towards certain communities and victims of domestic violence in general. Of importance to the Consortium was the lack of responsibility placed on the health sector to ensure that abuse is identified and documented, and the victim properly cared for or referred to a more appropriate service provider. The second report, produced by the Gender Advocacy Programme and the Medical Research Council (Mathews and Abrahams, 2001), focuses more specifically, through in-depth interviews with 23 women, on complainants' experiences of using the Act and the criminal justice system. Their interviewees spoke of a lack of interest by the police in assisting them. Reports were that many police officials either did not know the law, or took the attitude that the women were somehow to blame in creating the situation in which they found themselves. Women also spoke of the racist attitudes that they encountered when bringing a complaint. In terms of their court experiences women spoke predominantly of long waits, 'wasted time' and a sense of exclusion from the process. The writers emphasise the levels of secondary victimisation that result from these experiences.
5. DEVELOPMENT AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE A lack of access to social, economic and political resources undoubtedly feeds into women's vulnerability to domestic violence by perpetuating gender inequality and restricting exit options (Bennett, 1999). This is clear from our discussion, above, relating to the criminal justice system. We were, however, keen to turn this relationship on its head and to consider the ways in which domestic violence can serve to perpetuate underdevelopment, as well as the ways in which developmental interventions could increase the risk of domestic violence. We found very little literature on either of the latter points. In respect of the ways in which domestic violence serves to restrict women's choices and therefore inhibit development, the most useful discussion was found in the International Centre for Research on Women's (1999) report on domestic violence in India. Pointing to work done by the World Bank (1993) and Heise (1994) researchers note that 'abuse has been observed to impede the public participation of women, undermine their economic efficiency, cause increased health burdens, and impose a drain on scarce resources.' Likewise, Baden 6
(1999: 152) emphasises the negative effect that violence or the threat of violence has on the nature of women's participation in development processes.
'It affects their capacity to
assume positions of authority, and it influences whether they benefit directly from development programs and actually increase their access to resources, or simply act as conduits that direct resources to male members of the household.' Within the South African context of gross poverty Bennett (1999) warns that 'gender-based violence must be seen as – at best – a challenge; at worst, a complete barrier to developmental success.' As such, her concern that gender-based violence 'continues to remain marginal to broader development and peace-building initiatives and research in South Africa' and that research on gender-based violence seldom engages with the literature and experiences of these fields, requires urgent attention. Both the Bennett and ICRW reports touch on an issue that is central to our thinking: that development initiatives may increase the risk of domestic violence. The ICRW report notes, in this respect, that efforts at development may increase levels of domestic violence in that they 'shift and intensify gender dynamics within the household'. The potential risk that lies in development practices is cogently identified by the Community Development Resource Association, an organisation that sees itself as predominantly working in the field of social (as opposed to infrastructural or economic) development.
In their
reflective annual report, entitled Measuring Development – Holding Infinity (2000/1), they point out that 'unequal, unhealthy and overly dependent power relationships… are as they are because they yield some benefit, or protection (or they used to) and it is simply difficult to move on'. Implicit to this recognition is the fact that power dynamics which benefit (or are perceived to benefit) one group over another will be strongly guarded by the beneficiaries. In similar vein the World Bank's excellent report, entitled Can Anyone Hear Us? Voices from 47 Countries (Narayan, 1999), notes that 'poverty interventions directly or indirectly affect and are affected by the household and gender relations, and hence the importance of exploring intra-household gender dynamics' (at 135). The writers speak of 'gender anxiety' within the household, an institution they describe as 'strained and in flux.' They see gender roles as shifting under increased economic pressure, 'touching core values about gender identity, gender power, and gender relations within poor households'. Anxiety about what is a 'good woman' or a 'good man' is seen as pervasive. In particular: Values and relations are being broken, tested, contested, and renegotiated in silence, pain and violence. (Narayan, 1999: 135) It is to the manner in which this contestation plays out in the rural context that this paper will address itself.
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CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
1. PURPOSE The vulnerable position of farm workers, and especially women farm workers, has increasingly gained attention over the past few years. As a result, much effort has gone into improving their living and working conditions.
Notably absent, however, is an in-depth
exploration of the violence that women farm workers experience and the methods used to address that violence. In an effort to begin exploring this gap, we address ourselves to the following tasks: 1. to describe and examine the nature and extent of domestic violence on farms 2. to consider responses to domestic violence from within the farm worker community 3. to consider the 'external' responses represented by the Domestic Violence Act, farm management, the health sector and development initiatives. In doing so, we hope to:
illustrate the complex interaction of domestic violence and structural dependency; and
consider the impact and implications of this relationship for the effectiveness of both internal and external interventions.
2. THE DEVELOPMENT OF INSTRUMENTS Focussing on domestic violence within farming communities that are characterised by developmental constraints raises a number of difficult issues. Our literature review therefore spanned a range of topics, which include regional and national research on the condition of farm workers and women farm workers specifically; as well as general literature on the relationship between violence against women, gender and development. A recurring theme in the literature considered is the extent of alcohol abuse in this context and its relationship to domestic violence. attention.
As such, this was a further sub-topic to which we addressed our
We used the information gained through the literature review and our own
knowledge of having worked in the farming context to inform our approach.
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The decision to use one-on-one interviews was determined by the constraints of an environment in which there are high levels of illiteracy and by the fact that domestic violence is a particularly sensitive research topic. We hoped that by taking this approach we could create an interview space that felt safe for respondents. Ultimately, though, we recognised that workers participating in the research should be free to dictate what felt safe for them. The result was that we conducted not only one-on-one interviews, but also small group interviews with between 2 and 4 people and a large group interview with 25 people. The small group interviews were conducted with groups of only men or only women. The interview schedule was designed to serve as a guide during the interview process. It was structured around the core themes described above. Because the relationship of each target group to the farming context differed, we shaped questions to be appropriate to each relationship. At the outset we asked a number of identifying questions in order to obtain general information about the context and to put the interviewees at ease. Thereafter the focus was specifically on domestic violence. The responses to identifying questions provide interesting background information and are captured in Boxes 3.1.1 and 3.2.1. The interview schedule is attached as Appendix 1.
3. PARTICIPANTS IN THE STUDY In addition to the obvious need to interview farm workers, we identified other key roleplayers who could provide insight into the complexity of the problem and the effectiveness of various responses to domestic violence occurring on farms. To this end, we also interviewed farm management, development organisations working with farm workers, and health service providers. These are, we believe, some of the key role-players that farm workers would turn to when faced with domestic violence.
3.1 Farm workers Working on the assumption that access to the farms would be difficult we decided to approach three farms in the Boland and Helderberg regions, with which the selected development organisations had an existing relationship. As it turned out, access problems persisted and we eventually selected one farm with which one of those development organisations had a long-standing relationship, another on which development work had only recently begun and a third where very little, sporadic development work had occurred. Each of the farms studied employed a core of permanent coloured workers, supplemented by Xhosa
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speaking seasonal workers for the period from October to April.2 On two of the farms these workers were bussed in from the Eastern Cape, while on the third black workers lived off the farm in townships. In total, we interviewed 38 farm workers.
Three workers participated in one-on-one
interviews, while 4 interviews were conducted with groups of 2 – 4 women only/men only groups. Of these:
8 were women
5 were men
4 lived off the farm on which they were working
9 lived on the farm
4 were Xhosa speaking
9 were Afrikaans speaking
The remaining 25 farm workers were Xhosa speaking seasonal workers who participated in a group interview. Of these some two thirds were men and the remaining third were women. In this group community leaders would not consent to one-on-one or women only/men only interviews. The following box gives a summary of background information obtained during the interviews with farm workers. 3.1.1 Profile of farm workers interviewed Permanent workers had a working relationship with the farms that ranged from 6 – 15 years. A number of workers had grown up on the farm and begun working there at a relatively young age. Most seasonal workers had been working on the same farm (during the season) for 10 – 12 years.
Positions ranged from general labour to planting, pruning, tractor driving and
domestic work. Certain work is clearly regarded as men's work and other as women's work. The former is not necessarily heavy work, and includes activities like tractor driving, but is inevitably better remunerated and carries a higher status. Even where men and women do the same work, indications are that men are still better paid than women are. On one farm, for example, men were paid R31 per day and women R28 per day for the same work. In respect of leadership roles, senior staff members are appointed, by management (for the most part), to worker's committees which liase between farm management and the workers. Overwhelmingly, because senior positions are held by coloured men, it is they who benefit from these class structures. The politics of our apartheid past saw people classified as 'coloured' being given preference for work opportunities over people classified as 'african', who have also historically been 2 The farming context is reflective of our apartheid past, wherein people were classified according to race. The racial categories which farmers, farm workers and organisational staff refer to are those of coloured, african and white. While we find these categories degrading, recognise that they are
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exploited as a source of cheap, unregulated labour. The result is that the majority of farm workers in the Western Cape are coloured workers who see farm work as their domain, while african workers are generally utilised on a seasonal basis. In a context where job security is generally tenuous and benefits are few, it is seasonal workers that come off particularly badly. On one of the farms studied, for example, coloured women workers had employment contracts independently of their male partners, while african women indicated that they were simply given jobs because their brothers, fathers or husbands were employed on the farm and were not given formal contracts. Housing arrangements for seasonal and permanent staff also differed vastly.
Permanent
workers live in houses, while seasonal workers live in hostels. Although the houses we saw were often small, dark, cold and often overcrowded, the hostels were barely habitable. Houses and hostels are physically separated and on one of the farms they were situated in such a way that the permanent workers literally 'looked down' on the seasonal workers. On one of the farms studied, where african workers are given permanent positions, they are still bussed in on a daily basis from township areas, while the coloured workers reside on the farm. One man, who lives in Kraaifontein and works on a farm outside Stellenbosch, gets up at 04h00 to catch a train to Khayamnandi, from where a bus transports workers to the farm for a 07h30 start. In the evening he knocks off at 17h00 and does the trip in reverse. For this he earns R130 per week. Permanent workers have access to crèche facilities, where children are given toys and food, on two of the farms. On one of the farms this facility is extended to seasonal workers, but children have to bring their own food. Similarly, seasonal workers were expected to meet their own medical expenses, while the farmer paid for those of permanent workers. There is minimal interaction between seasonal and permanent workers, marked by substantial mistrust and a deep vein of racism.
3.2 Farm management On the three farms selected, we conducted a formal one-on-one interview with one farm manager and had extensive discussions with the other two managers around the issues in question. We were also given access to a member of the management team for five other large farms. All interviewees were white and only one was a woman.
contested identities, and would prefer not to use them, they are the categories that our interviewees use and they do illustrate the pervasive racial divide that marks this context.
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3.2.1 The relationship between workers and management on farms During the course of our fieldwork, we noted the increasing trend for farmers to exclude themselves from the lives of their workers. Farm managers seemed particularly keen to free themselves of the connectedness and responsibility that comes with having workers living on their land. On two of the farms, managers reported that they were actively working towards moving all workers off their land. On one of those farms, houses that became vacant were simply being demolished. The farm managers indicated that this was a direct response to progressive labour and tenure legislation.
This motivation also informed the preference
expressed by another manager for using labour brokers rather than employing workers directly. All interviewees indicated that they were moving towards a 'factory' style of work, where they considered themselves to be only responsible for workers during 'office hours.' There is, however, a constant tension between the paternal relationship that has always existed between farm workers and management and this trend towards disengagement. While farm workers expressed many frustrations with their living and working environment, they are also remarkably tied to the farmers. To a large extent this relationship appears to be one of traumatic bonding: the farm environment, even though it is oppressive, is familiar and often all that workers know. They also know that their situation is substantially similar to that of workers on other farms. While conditions on other farms may be marginally better, more often they are worse.
3.3 Health Care Workers We identified mobile clinics, primary health care facilities that visit farms on a rotational basis, as a possible site for intervention in cases of domestic violence, because the community health care workers have access to farm communities on a regular basis. This interaction often occurs on a one-on–one basis and is presumed to be confidential. Given the peculiar expertise of community health care workers they are in a position to recognise domestic violence from the nature of the health complaints and injuries with which farm workers present. In order to explore this as a possibility, we interviewed two mobile clinic sisters. These health care workers are based in Stellenbosch, but travel widely amongst the farms, visiting most once a month. Women obtain contraception from the mobile clinics, which means that they are seen at least every three months. Both health care workers were women; one was coloured and the other was white.
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3.4 Non-Governmental Organisations We interviewed staff from four separate organisations.3 Of these, only one has a specific focus on domestic violence within their programme work. This organisation and two of the others focuses primarily, however, on socio-economic and labour rights. The fourth organisation works specifically around the area of alcohol abuse on farms, a subject that we had identified in our initial work as being of particular relevance.
They all encounter
domestic violence in the work that they do. Two of the organisations were targeted as a result of the fact that we had an existing working relationship with them, while the other two were identified by the organisations themselves as being key role players.
All the
organisations have worked on farms for at least 10 years and have reached a stage where their approaches have been evaluated, adapted and, where necessary, even abandoned for more innovative methods. In total we interviewed nine workers from these organisations. All interviewees were women. Eight were coloured and one was african. 3.4.1 How do organisations see themselves? Each of these organisations sees itself as engaged in 'development' work.
Although the
precise meaning attached by interviewees to this concept differed, three themes can be drawn from their responses. They all see development as people–centred,4 effecting change for the better5 and building capacity. As such, all organisations interviewed indicated that their work focuses on needs identified through extensive consultation with the communities in which they work. That means that farm workers themselves have identified needs that they would like organisations to address. Within this context, where people are struggling to address basic needs, it is noteworthy that domestic violence was not identified as a core issue to be addressed. This is not surprising given the extreme economic and social marginalisation of farm worker communities. The ambivalence that those working in this context experience is captured by one interviewee, who said: I have this saying that you can't teach people how to read and write and then, at the end of the day, the people are hungry (OD).
3
Given the sensitive nature of the subject matter and the vulnerability of the communities with which these organisations work, we have agreed with them that their identity should remain confidential. 4 Development is about people… people who start taking charge of their lives (OG) 5 It's really about bringing about changes in those rural workers' lives (OC)
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4. INTERVIEW PROCESS All the interviews were conducted during the period of October 2001 to February 2002.
4.1 Access
4.1.1 Farms: Farm Workers and Management The process of obtaining access to farm workers is lengthy. Because of the way in which farms are structured, access is generally facilitated through contact with farm management. In addition, most farms have a worker's committee of sorts that has been constituted to act as liaison between the farm manager and permanent workers, through which requests are then filtered. On Farm 1 we initially attended a community function, at which we had the opportunity to tell the permanent workers present about our research.
We were also able to meet
informally with the farm manager. Subsequently we asked for an opportunity to address a meeting of the Community Development Committee,6 at which we discussed the proposed research in greater detail, solicited input from the workers and decided with the farm workers who should be interviewed.
Notably, although this committee did not represent
seasonal workers, a committee member did call a meeting of seasonal workers in order to introduce us. Following from that meeting we were able to set up a group interview with these workers. All interviews on this farm occurred in the evenings, after work. On Farm 2 we were initially introduced to a nascent Community Development Committee by one of the organisations.
It turned out that this committee was not yet sufficiently
established and was seen as being a threat to the existing worker committee. As a result, farm management were initially antagonistic towards us and we were forced to retrace our steps, have a meeting with the farm manager and meet the chairperson of the worker committee, in order to try to gain their support. On the advice of the worker committee we then attempted to hold an information session for the community. As it happened, the date set fell on a 'pay' weekend7 and no one arrived for the session. The worker committee then agreed to arrange for us to interview some of the farm workers on the following weekend. Farm 3 was identified after consultations with a number of organisations as being a 'good' farm on which to interview workers who lived off the farm. We contacted the farm manager directly and set up a meeting at which to discuss our research. He called in his production 6
These committees have been established on some farms, through the work of one of the organisations, for the purpose of providing workers with a forum for social development.
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manager who then selected the farm workers interviewed. These interviews were conducted on the premises during work hours. One observation worth noting at this point, is that because participants were selected by farm management or by the worker committees they were likely to be 'model' workers. As such, it is possible that we were exposed to the views of those perceived as being most likely to provide positive impressions of the farm.
4.1.2 Health Care Workers and Non-Governmental Organisations Health care workers and organisational staff were the easiest groups to access. The health care workers we interviewed were contacted through community clinics and were both senior nursing sisters. Two of the organisations were already brought on board at the conceptual stage and served as a reference point during the development of our research tools. Our first contact point was, with the exception of one organisation, the most senior person. Thereafter meetings were held with field staff to inform them about the research and to request their participation. Individual interviews were set up with relevant field staff based on our assessment of their organisational strategies.
For example, in one organisation,
cognisant of the fact that their programmes had recently shifted, we interviewed two longstanding and one newer member of staff; at another we interviewed one member of staff from each arm of the project. By doing this we hoped to obtain a broader picture of the extent of domestic violence and a more accurate picture of the varied responses. Throughout the research we indicated, to all participants, that we were willing to provide information sessions on the Domestic Violence Act, in return for their participation.
4.2 Language Interviews with farm workers were conducted in Afrikaans and Xhosa. Xhosa interviews were done with the assistance of an interpreter. Farm management, organisations and health care workers were interviewed in English and Afrikaans. All the interviews were tape recorded and 12 tapes were later transcribed.
7
Workers on this farm were paid fortnightly. Each alternate weekend was therefore a 'pay' weekend, while those in between were 'dry' weekends. More alcohol is consumed on 'pay' weekends than 'dry' weekends.
15
4.3 The Interviews The one-on–one and small group interviews were generally useful in obtaining the required information. On only one occasion did the interviewee (a man) seem completely at a loss and uneasy with the interview process. In our opinion, it was the mere fact of being interviewed that made him uncomfortable, rather than the subject matter.
Our conscious effort to
include all small group participants proved to be very successful, as no one person dominated those interviews.
In contrast, we encountered problems with the large group interview,
which included both men and women.
During this interview the men dominated all
discussions, effectively silencing the women. We observed that the women's body language and facial expressions sometimes seemed to contradict what the men were saying. The fact that we were working through an interpreter made it very difficult to mediate this tension and therefore to ensure that the women participated. At that meeting, for example, the men were adamant that there was no domestic violence occurring in their community. When this was expressed, the women became noticeably more silent and exchanged meaningful looks among themselves, suggesting that they held a different opinion.8 In this process time was often a factor and, generally speaking, the time allotted for the interviews did not allow for the time needed to build close and trusting relationships with community members. This limited the depth of information that we were able to obtain, particularly where there was a substantial language barrier. It was useful to interview both farm management and workers on a given farm, as we were able to pick up on themes and also on discrepancies in information given.
Furthermore,
interviewing both men and women on those farms helped to give us a clearer understanding of that particular context. Often, as will be seen below, the perspectives of men and women differed substantially.
4.4 Confidentiality Participants in the research were made aware from the outset that their identity and the information they shared with us would remain confidential. As such we have assigned a random code to each of the tape-recorded transcripts.
8
Interestingly, a subsequent interview with farm management (FM1) revealed that there had been recent incidents of domestic violence in that community and that management had been called in, in an effort to address the problem.
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CHAPTER 4 PERVASIVENESS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
1. INTRODUCTION Domestic violence in the farming context is still overwhelmingly considered a private matter. Despite this fact, there is a great awareness of domestic violence within the farm worker communities and incidents do come to the knowledge of farm workers, farm management, health care workers and developmental organisations. In order to obtain a picture of the various interviewees' experiences, perceptions and attitudes around domestic violence, we asked a number of questions, including the following:
whether and how they encountered incidents of domestic violence
who was involved in the violence
what form the violence takes
what triggers the violence
whether alcohol was perceived as playing a significant role in domestic violence
In this section we describe the responses of each of our target groups to these questions.
2. BECOMING AWARE OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 2.1 Farm Workers Domestic violence becomes known to the farm worker communities because they witness incidents, see the resultant physical injuries or hear about it from other workers. The fact that domestic violence is still considered to be a private matter was evident, however, in the responses and reactions of farm workers to the questions that we posed to them about occurrences of domestic violence.
Initially some of the farm workers were reluctant to
acknowledge that there was domestic violence on their farms, while most tended to minimise the extent thereof, merely suggesting that sometimes people got 'a little difficult' ('bietjie moeilik') with each other. After some probing most of these interviewees recounted incidents of domestic violence in the homes of others on the farm, but were quick to point out that it didn't happen in theirs.
It is noteworthy that on the one farm where a development
organisation had been working for a number of years to specifically address domestic violence 17
the male and female interviewees all pointed to three specific households in which domestic violence was still occurring. What was of considerable interest to us was the clear difference in the responses of men and women farm workers to questions regarding the extent and reasons for domestic violence. For example, on one farm the men told us that incidents of domestic violence were mostly confined to weekends, while weekdays were pretty quiet. One of the interviewees expressed his wish that farm workers should behave during the weekends as they did during the week, saying that, Ek wens ons kan op die naweek wees soos ons mense in die week is. Ek dink in die week is ons een familie. Maar as dit by naweke kom … dit is 'n probleem. (FW7a) [I wish we could behave on weekends as we do during the week. In the week we're one happy family. But on the weekends … it's a problem.] After further discussion on this point the men conceded however that domestic violence did occur during the week, albeit occasionally, with the same interviewee saying that, Ons het 'n paar probleme gehad waar jy met mense moet gaan praat het, deurdat hulle in die weeksdae met mekaar bietjie moeilik is. Ek dink tog daar's omstandighede wat daarnatoe lei. (FW7a) [We have had a few problems where we have had to speak to people because they have gotten a little difficult with each other during the week. But I do think that there are circumstances that lead to it.] On the same farm, however, women were adamant that violence occurred all the time, regardless of whether it was a weekday or weekend. (FW8)
2.2 Farm Management Farm managers all indicated that they knew of domestic violence on their farms and that they had become aware of this directly, when abused workers came to them for assistance, as well as indirectly. Indirect knowledge derived from visible indicators and from the intervention of other farm workers who approached either the farmer or, on one farm, the farm manager's wife. This manager told us that, … mens hoor so tussen in. Baie keer hoor ek dit by my vrou via mense wat dit vir haar sê. So sy sal vir my sê 'maar die een het vir daai een aangerand'. (FM1) [One hears about these things around the place. Often I hear it from my wife, via people who tell her about it. So, she'll tell me 'this person assaulted that person.']
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The manager responsible for a group of farms indicated that another way in which she had become aware of the violence was through a health care worker who was appointed by management to work with the farm workers: Whilst I'm not privy to what the discussions are about, if it is serious the sister will come to me, or the personnel officer, and say 'we have a problem here and we need intervention'. (FM3) As was the case with farm workers, management tended to downplay the seriousness of domestic violence incidents. One manager told us of an employee who had had her face unrecognisably burned when her partner attacked her with a hot iron – in his words she has had her 'face modified with an iron' (FM4). Such euphemistic language was not uncommon amongst interviewees.
2.3 Health Care Workers Health care workers indicated to us that the women that they see on farms do not generally speak to them about the abuse that they endure.
They are, however, able to detect
domestic violence through physical injuries and through other manifestations, such as depression. As one interviewee indicated, Hulle praat baie keer nie daaroor nie. So 'n mens sien maar fisiese tekens en, as jy dan navrae doen oor hoekom jy sien daar's miskien 'n pers hou of 'n blou hou, dan sal jy na 'n lang tyd – as jy nou die vertroue wen – sal jy agterkom daar is gesinsgeweld. (OB) [Often they don't talk about it. So, if you see that someone has a purple or blue bruise, after a long time – once you've won their trust – you'll find out that this is domestic violence.] While building trust is critical to the farm worker disclosing her experience of domestic violence, the development of a longstanding relationship also allows the health care worker to bridge the 'professional distance' that precludes her from asking about obvious signs of abuse.
In other words, to move beyond the point where it is deemed inappropriate to
enquire about a blue eye when the farm worker has presented with a chest complaint. Interestingly, health care workers also indicated that they picked up the possibility of domestic violence through children who presented with stress-related symptoms and ailments such as digestive disorders. The interviewee suggested that these could often be traced to trauma in the home.
19
2.4 Non-Governmental Organisations Organisational staff become aware of domestic violence through the work that they do. This work places them in direct contact with farm workers and allows them to build up trusting relationships. In some cases victims of domestic violence approach the organisations directly for assistance and in other cases they are simply using their professional experience to interpret indicators of domestic violence. One organisation trained farm workers to provide a primary health care service to their community.
Because they were drawn from that
community, they enjoyed a more intimate, and sometimes more trusting relationship, with the other farm workers. The staff member interviewed indicated that she had become aware of incidents of domestic violence on the farms by reading the reports submitted by the trained farm workers. Although these reports did not directly refer to such incidents, the interviewee could identify possible cases of domestic violence based on the referral of workers to other service providers dealing with domestic violence or to the police (OK). As one would expect, staff members told us of a great reluctance on the part of women to talk about domestic violence.
This was the case even where there was a close and
longstanding relationship with those women. When asked how readily she heard about cases of domestic violence on the farms, one interviewee responded that: The problem is people don't even speak about it, especially on the farm where I work. Even when they are committee members, they don't really open up to speak about domestic violence. (OF) Staff from various organisations indicated that meetings and workshops provided women farm workers, especially, with a platform to share their stories of domestic violence and to alert other workers to the prevalence of domestic violence on the farms. One staff member told us that, I've had various focus groups with women and, actually, when you have a one-on-one interview with people or you've got a focus group where women feel open and can talk – always there was one person who indicated and the discussion would follow. (OC) The stories recounted by workers were often of their own personal experiences or accounts of what they had witnessed or heard on the farms. The farm workers often shared, within these forums, traumatic stories of where domestic violence had resulted in the death of a fellow worker.
20
3. NATURE OF THE VIOLENCE 3.1 Farm Workers When asked to describe the nature of domestic violence occurring on the farm, all farm worker respondents named physical abuse of varying degrees. Within this categorisation only certain forms of physical abuse were deemed to be serious. Others were simply accepted as normal. In the large group interview, for example, workers told us that, We fight each other as Xhosas – men to men, men to women. The farm is just violent. (FW4) For the most part, violence was considered to be serious when a weapon, such as a knife (FW5a&b and FW7a&b) or firearm (FW5a&b) was used. Only one interviewee referred to verbal abuse, accompanied by swearing, as being prevalent on that farm (FW1).
3.2 Farm Management All management staff responded to questions around the nature of domestic violence by pointing in the first instance to physical abuse, with all four of the interviewees telling specific stories of such abuse. These ranged from slaps ('klappe') through 'molestation' to horrific stories of disfiguring and even fatal incidents of domestic violence. Management also pointed consistently to verbal and emotional abuse, with one manager saying that, … hulle sal mekaar vloek en skel – as jy dit geweld kan noem – dis maar ewe geweld. (FM1) […they swear and scold each other – if you can call this violence – it is a form of violence.] One manager identified economic abuse as being prevalent on the farms on which she worked. She was strongly of the opinion that this was closely tied to alcohol abuse and to the hold that shebeens9 had over the livelihoods of farm workers (FM3). This issue is discussed further in Box 5.5, which occurs later in this report.
3.3 Health Care Workers Physical abuse was identified by health care workers as the most prevalent form of domestic violence that they encountered. This is not surprising, given the nature of their work. They
21
spoke about seeing bruises on the women at the clinics and being approached for ointments to treat their injuries. Of interest was the strong emphasis that the interviewees placed on the pervasive presence of verbal and emotional abuse. One health care worker spoke of: … die heen en weer gooi van woorde, om dit so te stel, wat hulle mekaar nou verwyt en die kind hoor dit nou alles. Want saam met dit gaan daar partykeer nou baie kru woorde. En die stemtoon is partykeer ook baie hard. (OB) […the throwing around of words, to put it that way, where they reproach each other. And the child hears everything. Because along with this comes the use of very crude words. And the tone of voice is sometimes also very harsh.] It seems, from what was said, that although the health care workers were seeing the signs of high levels of physical abuse, women presenting at the clinic were more open to speaking about the verbal and emotional abuse that they endured than the physical.
3.4 Non-Governmental Organisations While organisational staff all highlighted the presence of physical abuse as the most obvious form of domestic violence that they encountered, these interviewees also pointed to a number of other forms of abuse as being prevalent on the farms. All interviewees spoke of widespread economic or financial abuse experienced by women farm workers. They saw this as being largely reflective of more generalised controlling behaviour by their male partners. This form of abuse is well reflected in the words of one of our interviewees: In many cases women, although they work, they are not in particular control. They do provide to the household economy, but they're not in control of that money. And what often happens is that they get a part of the money at the end of the week, and they have to go and buy some groceries for the rest of the week. Whatever is handed to them basically goes back into the household and the rest goes to their male partner. (OC) Another interviewee suggested that the use of the household income to purchase alcohol and drugs represented a substantial problem (OE). Three interviewees, from three different organisations all spoke of sexual abuse, as being a form of abuse that they regularly encountered but which was seldom named as such. That is,
9
Shebeens are informal, unlicensed bottle stores or pubs often operating from a private residence.
22
women farm workers often expressed their discomfort with certain sexual acts, without recognising that they had been subject to sexual abuse. As one interviewee explained: So hulle aanvaar nog dat jy moet nou met jou man slaap, ten spyte van die feit dat jy nie toestemming gee nie. So hulle sien die nie as verkragting nie. (OJ) [So they accept that you must have sex with your husband, despite the fact that you do not consent. They don't see it as rape.] Finally, organisational staff all identified verbal and emotional abuse as widespread forms of domestic violence occurring within farming communities.
4. WHO IS INVOLVED? 4.1 Farm Workers Indications from the responses to our questions are that most incidents of domestic violence on the farms occurred between men and women who were partners, with men being the primary perpetrators of the violence. Of particular interest were stories detailing elder abuse and abuse between young dating couples. Workers on one farm told us about a young man who, after years of physically, emotionally and financially abusing his father, had recently broken both his father's arms (FW7a & b). On the same farm an adolescent girl had stabbed her male partner to death after experiencing abuse from him over an extended period. The interviewee told us that he had severely assaulted her ('hy het haar vreeslik aangerand)' (FW7a) prior to the murder. While men are undoubtedly abused by their partners, it is very difficult to obtain information about such abuse, as men are particularly reluctant to admit to being victims of such violence. As one interviewee explained, Mans praat nie, omdat hulle's mans. (FW3) [Men don't talk (about their experiences of domestic violence) because they are men.]
4.2 Farm Management All farm managers identified domestic violence as occurring overwhelmingly between men and women who were partners. For the most part the parties involved were living together or married and the perpetrator of the violence was the male partner. Where women were involved indications were that this was as an immediate response to a violent episode. One manager told us of an attempt to intervene in an abusive relationship after it was reported that the male partner had been physically abusing his wife. His response to the manager's
23
admonition was to say 'Ja, but you must also speak to my wife, because she attacks me too.' The interviewee explained: So, in retaliation, she had picked up a knife and actually stabbed him. So, there I was, coming down very hard on the husband, only to find that the woman also retaliated. (FM3) One manager also spoke about an incident where a senior male worker had physically assaulted a female worker. While not her partner, both lived within the same hostel.
4.3 Health Care Workers Health care workers indicated that, with no exceptions, all the victims of domestic violence that they saw were women.
This is not surprising given that men would be unlikely to
approach a health care worker in such a case. Indications were also that most perpetrators were boyfriends, husbands or co-habitants: In die meeste gevalle is dit saambly-verhoudings of kêrel-meisie verhoudings waar hulle so geslaan word. (OA) [In most cases it is co-habitant relationships or girlfriend – boyfriend relationships in which people are physically abused.] Of great concern was the fact that they seem to be picking up higher levels of domestic violence amongst teenagers, with the same interviewee saying that, Ons tel dit meer op by die jonger geslagte, die tieners. (OA) [We pick it up more amongst the younger generations, the teenagers.] Their concern was, justifiably, that children were perpetuating behaviour patterns that they had witnessed and internalised in their own homes.
4.4 Non-Governmental Organisations Organisational staff pointed to most abuse as happening between male and female partners. Generally, indications were that men were the perpetrators, with women, where they were implicated, doing so in response to their partners' attacks. It was suggested that women were more likely to retaliate where alcohol was involved: En gewoonlik is dit ook maar – as die vrou terugslaan – is dit omdat altwee dronk is. So dis gewoonlik die mans wat die vrouens slaan. (OK) 24
[And generally – if the woman hits back – it's because both are drunk. So usually it's the men that are assaulting the women.] Organisational staff also pointed out, however, that there are men who are abused by their female partners, saying that, Sommige gevalle is daar vrouens wat hulle mans ook fisies aanrand. (OJ) [In some cases there are also women who physically abuse their male partners.] There was an acknowledgement from the interviewees that this only occurred in a very small minority of cases. Organisational staff also raised concerns about elder abuse in the farm worker communities with which they were involved, with one staff member saying that, In a few cases we've had older women whose sons are abusive. Definitely … economically and in other ways. (OE) Again, economic abuse of this sort seems to be closely linked to alcohol and drug abuse.
5. TRIGGERS AND JUSTIFICATIONS 5.1 Farm Workers In considering responses to questions about what triggered the violence, the difference in perceptions of men and women interviewees was, once again, marked. Most men responded in a way that suggested that at times, and under certain circumstances, domestic violence could be justified or, at least, excused.
A telling comment came in one interviewee's
description of a violent occurrence on the farm, in which he had intervened. His admonition to the abusive man had been to stop doing what he was doing, because the victim was not his wife: … man, dis nie jou vrou nie, los haar uit (FW7a) […man, she's not your wife, leave her alone.] Women, on the other hand, expressed a firm belief that violence was generally unjustifiable. At the same time, however, they seemed reconciled to domestic violence as a norm in their community.
25
Farm workers pointed to their living conditions as creating a particularly stressful environment, in which domestic violence could occur. This is particularly so in the case of workers living in hostels and is graphically illustrated by a farm worker's description of her living conditions: We are packed into tiny rooms. In some cases you get three families in one room with children, regardless of the number or age. There is no privacy at all. The owner only offers one single bed for each man working for him, regardless of the number of his family. (FW4) The one thing that all farm workers agreed on was that alcohol was a significant trigger of domestic violence.
Interviewees also pointed to alcohol as an excuse, and often a
justification, for the occurrence of domestic violence incidents. For this reason, weekends are seen as being more dangerous than weekdays.
5.2 Farm Management Management staff all agreed that alcohol was the most important precipitant of domestic violence on their farms. Tied closely to this is a sense, gleaned from the interviews, that violent behaviour within the farm worker community, and certainly within farm worker homes, is seen as something of a 'cultural' norm.
One farm manager said to us, in this
respect: …ek dink jy gaan dit verkeerd opneem as ek dit so sê … Daar is definitief nog geweld. Maar hulle is … omdat hulle Xhosa's is … Hulle het 'n ander kultuur. (FM1) [… I think if I say this you are going to take it the wrong way … There is definitely violence. But, they are … because they are Xhosa. They have another culture.] This attitude is not confined only to perceptions of Xhosa communities, but extends to a view that entire farm worker communities are prone to violence.
5.3 Health Care Workers Health care workers, like organisational staff, recognised the way in which patriarchal power relations are used to justify domestic violence, with one interviewee saying that the refrain she often hears from farm workers is that, As ma oortree het pa die reg om vir haar te wys waar het sy verkeerd opgetree. (OB) [If mom breaks the rules, dad has the right to show her where she has gone wrong.]
26
Inevitably this is a violent 'learning' process. While health care workers also identify alcohol as an important element, they were more aware than any of the other interviewees of the way in which other precipitating factors lead to alcohol abuse and are implicated in triggering domestic violence.
Factors identified
included high stress levels, communication problems, low self-esteem and exhaustion (OB). It was suggested that, in some cases, the presence of an extended family at close quarters, served to create additional stress (OA).
See, in this respect, the farm workers' views
expressed in 5.1 above.
5.4 Non-Governmental Organisations The responses of organisational staff to questions about why the violence happened were more nuanced and showed an explicit recognition of the gendered power imbalances that mark this context. Thus, one interviewee simply said that violence is seen by farm workers as justified, … because the man is the head of the house (OD) Again, alcohol featured large as both a trigger and justification for abusive behaviour. Alcohol, was also seen, in some cases, to exacerbate already volatile situations. Reasons given for abuse while under the influence were blatantly centred around the control of women, with men wanting more money from them to buy alcohol or wanting the women to stop drinking. Said one interviewee: The husband would drink but does not want his partner to drink. And if the partner drinks, then he gets upset. [OG] This sort of controlling behaviour lends itself to women assuming self-blame for precipitating the abuse they experience, in that they have failed to live up to their partner's expectations. One interviewee related how an abused farm worker had told her, Dis is my skuld ook want ek sorg nie dat ek uit sy pad bly nie [OI] [It's also my fault, because I do not see to it that I stay out of his way.] This perception is reinforced by broader community norms about what is appropriate behaviour for women.
27
5.5 Alcohol and Drugs The relationship between domestic violence and alcohol abuse is difficult to define. There is no doubt, however, that all of our interviewees saw alcohol as playing a significant role in triggering and perpetuating abuse on the farms. Alcohol abuse is deeply embedded in the farming context.
For centuries workers have been 'paid' for their labour on farms with
alcohol. In this way farmers were able to get rid of their surplus wine and to ensure that workers remained docile, with their dependency on the farmer who supplied the wine entrenched. One of the farm managers was particularly candid about this, saying that 'the alcohol problems are definitely attributable to the old "dop system"10 (FM3). Despite the fact that it is illegal, indications are that this system of control continues to occur in a modified form, with workers indicating that wine can be bought on some farms for as little as R2 a bottle. Feeding into this problem is the increased presence and accessibility of shebeens, with a number being illegally established in and around farms. The ready availability of alcohol around farms makes it difficult for those farmers who are concerned with reducing levels of alcohol abuse on their farms to do so successfully. Workers who wish to drink simply walk or drive to the next farm to buy alcohol if it is not available on their own farm.
Farm
management expressed concern that the proliferation of shebeens was also tying workers into a debt cycle, which further perpetuates their financial vulnerability. Because workers are allowed to buy alcohol on credit they become indebted to the shebeens, with many spending the bulk of their wages on rolling over this debt. One manager (FM3) told us that the shebeen 'down the road' had been found to be appropriating their workers' bank cards, along with their PIN numbers,11 and simply helping themselves to weekly debt repayments. We asked two male workers why they thought that people drank and their answers were illuminating: I think that some people drink because they want to have fun, but some have problems and they tend to resort to alcohol to try to take away the frustrations (FW6); Some people have personal and family problems. They drink to ease the stress and to forget about their problems. (FW6) It is these stresses that feed as much into the problem of domestic violence on the farms as alcohol abuse itself. Of further concern to both management and organisational staff was a perceived increase in substance abuse. In this respect a development worker said that, 10
This system of remuneration with alcohol for services rendered is known as the 'dop system' or tot system. 'Dop' is a colloquial Afrikaans term for a tot of alcohol or for alcohol generally.
28
… more and more men are into hard drugs – farm worker men. Especially the younger generation are much more into hard drugs than alcohol. (OD) A farm manager pointed especially to the use of 'mandrax and dagga', saying that substance abuse on the farms was leading to a 'couldn't care attitude' (FM3).
11
Personal Identification Numbers
29
CHAPTER 5 DEALING WITH DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ON FARMS
1. INTRODUCTION Domestic violence does become known within the farming context and enters the public domain. The question is what happens, if anything, once domestic violence becomes common knowledge. Farm workers, farm management, health care workers and organisational staff all employ a variety of approaches to dealing with domestic violence on farms. At the same time, the Domestic Violence Act (116 of 1998) represents an innovative State response to the widespread prevalence of domestic violence within our society. This is an important legal option that is available, at least in theory, to farm workers. In this section we explore these various approaches and outline the constraints posed to each by this particular context, which is one marked by women's extreme dependency on the men in their lives, both as partners and employers. This is not least because it is through these men that they obtain and retain their employment and housing, both essential to their livelihoods and therefore something that they are loathe to risk losing.
2. WITHIN THE FARM WORKER COMMUNITY (INTERNAL) Workers living on farms reported that when interventions were made around domestic violence the preference was for taking community action. This is understandable, given that, as far as possible, women prefer not to further antagonise their partners or their broader communities, on whom their dependency is often all but absolute. The way in which these various levels of dependency interlink to shape women farm workers' realities is reflected in the following quote: … we are here because our husbands or brothers work here. When the season ends only the men get money to go back home, and not the women. We'll have to see how we'll get back – even though we have been working here. (FW4) Although the interviewee was, in this case, a seasonal worker, the same forms of dependency govern the lives of permanent women workers. Sunde and Kleinbooi's research, discussed in
30
the literature review above, speaks cogently to these insecurities faced by women farm workers, especially in respect of housing and job security. Whether and how a community intervenes is dependent on the severity of the incidents and, in a large measure, on the impact that the domestic violence occurring within the home has on the broader community. Community members understandably fear that by 'interfering' in this 'family matter', they will be termed 'meddlers' and risk having the violence turned against them. It is easier (and more socially appropriate) to turn a blind eye. This results in a process through which the victim and her family become increasingly isolated, as is illustrated by the following observations: In die begin, sal ek sê, as dit ‘n nuwe geval is van probleme, dan hou hulle (die familie) dit eers vir hulle self. Dan probeer hulle dit binne in die mure hanteer. Maar soos dit uitbrei sneeubal dit. Dan kan jy agterkom die woorde raak harder, die ruite breek makliker. Dan begin die mense bewus raak, in die omgewing ook, daar is ‘n probleem. En ek het ook al gevind mense is bang om in te meng. Want hulle is bang hulle kry ook seer in die proses, as die geweld erger raak. So dan raak daardie familie alhoemeer geïsoleerd… Ek dink so ‘n familie is in ‘n krisis. (OB) [Initially the family keeps the matter to itself. They try to handle within their own four walls. But as it intensifies it starts to snowball. Then you can see that the words become harsher and the windows break more easily. That's when the community becomes aware that there is a problem. I have noticed though that people are afraid of interfering, because they are scared that they will be hurt in the process, especially if the abuse intensifies. In this way the family becomes increasingly isolated… I think that such a family is in crisis.] Where action is taken by the community to deal with domestic violence it seems to be limited to reprimanding the perpetrator or reporting cases to immediate superiors. The latter seems to be a less popular approach, as suggested by an interviewee who said that, … you can also find that in a workplace…when your supervisor does not like you, there is nothing that goes right. (FW5). Other interviewees also reported that the response of supervisors varied considerably. This difficulty is made more acute by the fact that most supervisors are men and that they are often friends with the perpetrator. Community members are reluctant to get involved in domestic violence cases because they fear for their own safety. As a result, involvement is often more discreet, with interviewees indicating that there are times, when the abuse is really bad, that the police or an ambulance will simply arrive on the farm. Someone in the community quietly called them. We found that where an organisation had been working on the farms, workers felt substantially more comfortable dealing with domestic violence in their ranks, through worker 31
committees or through specially established domestic violence interest groups.
Worker
committees, representing permanent workers, offer a more formal forum for dealing with domestic violence in the community. Interviewees generally indicated that the committee would have authority to deal with such a matter, but also complained that many did not serve as appropriate role-models, with one worker reporting that: …die skakelkomitee was glad nie vir ons as gemeenskap voorbeeld nie. Hulle baklei op die straat voor ons, skel mekaar en skinner oor mekaar. (FW1) [The liaison committee does not set an example to the community. They fight on the street in front of us, swear at each other and gossip about each other.] While confidence amongst ordinary farm workers was limited to placing pressure on peers, even the best-established interest group expressed a difficulty in dealing with more senior workers.
On one of the farms, where substantial work had been done by one of the
development organisations, workers were able to identify that only three of the men living on the farm were still physically abusive towards their partners. The most serious offender, unfortunately, was the chairperson of the workers' committee and, as such, a senior employee. His seniority made it difficult for the other workers to engage him directly, and his position on the committee meant that this route of engaging the farmer on the issue was closed. The influence of development organisations can be seen in the example of one farm, where a farm worker who has been trained up as a health worker publishes a weekly newsletter with the assistance of that organisation. In this newsletter she takes an innovative approach to dealing with domestic violence cases on her farm. Without naming names she notes that domestic abuse is again occurring in the community and tells the perpetrator that after the third warning she will call the police and have him locked up. From the accounts of the development worker interviewed, this has been a very successful intervention (OK). Workers living off the farm gave us some insight into how domestic violence is dealt with in their particular communities, indicating that perpetrators were called on, under certain circumstances, to apologise to both each other and to the community: …sometimes if people were under the influence of alcohol during the violence, they go and apologise to the community as well as to each other. (FW6b). It was noted that most apologies happen after the weekend. Another interviewee indicated that he lived in a hostel, where the rooms are close to each other and other hostel dwellers were therefore necessarily drawn into the altercation:
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We can hear when a husband or boyfriend beats his wife or girlfriend. Therefore, what happens is that if we hear a domestic violence the community convenes a meeting and calls the person who has done wrong. We first warn the person. If he keeps on doing it, we dismiss him. (FW6a). Other community interventions reported included beating of perpetrators by their neighbours and the despatch of a community elder to talk sense into the person. As with workers living on the farms, community engagement seems to be dictated by the extent to which the violence has an immediate impact on other community members. There is also substantial pressure for these matters to be dealt with internally and we were told that it was required for a victim of domestic violence to seek help from the Street Committee12 before exploring other avenues. Indeed, this even seems to be the approach taken by some police officers. In this respect an interviewee told us that, The street committee deals with domestic violence. Sometimes people go and report to the police and the police will tell the person to report to the street committee first. (FW6b). Finally, workers living off farms indicated that they made use of day hospitals to address primary health care needs, including the physical injuries sustained during incidents of domestic violence. Both farm workers living on and off the farms expressed a reluctance to involve farm management.
According to the workers, management have made it clear that domestic
violence is a private matter, to be dealt with in the home or by the community. Despite the reluctance to involve farm management, there is also a widespread opinion that managerial intervention could be effective in reducing levels of violence. This is well expressed in the words of one farm worker, who said: Hy (the manager) gee nie om nie en dink sy werkers se probleme is nie sy probleme nie. Want ek dink dit kan seker die man laat skrik as hy hom roep en miskien vir hom waarsku. (FW1) [The manager doesn't care, and thinks that the worker's problems are not his problem. I think it would probably give a man a fright to be called in by him and maybe given a warning.]
12
Street Committees are civic structures that, to a lesser or greater degree, play a significant role in the ordering of many townships, by providing a forum for dispute resolution. For a fuller discussion of these structures and other forms of non-state ordering see Tshehla (2002).
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3. OUTSIDE OF THE FARM WORKER COMMUNITY (EXTERNAL) 3.1 Farm management During the interview process we saw a constant tension between workers' needs for independence and their inability or unwillingness to be completely free of reliance on the farmer. Many farm workers were of the opinion that management involvement in domestic violence cases would serve to reduce levels of domestic violence. Unfortunately, however, most managers seem to be selective about when they intervene, and in which worker issues. Thus, despite the general recognition that domestic violence is a common problem on their farms, all management staff expressed a preference not to become involved, with one manager simply and unequivocally saying that, … management will not get involved with domestic violence, as it is a private matter. (FM2) This perception is reinforced by an increasing tendency, described in Box 3.2.1, to see farms as 'factories', where workers arrive for work at seven and leave at five. What happens after hours is of no concern to management. This perception is even more acute where workers are living off the farm. Despite this strongly expressed reluctance it did become apparent during our various interviews that management do become involved in addressing domestic violence.
One
manager indicated that on their group of farms they have a clinic sister in permanent employ. Another manager employs a social worker on a part-time basis, although this intervention seems to be predominantly directed at addressing alcohol abuse. Indications are that the clinic sister has at times requested management intervention. Interestingly, in this case, the interviewee's initial response was that management does not generally become involved, unless the incidents threaten to reflect badly on the farm's image.
Further questioning,
however, suggested a fairly substantial, if ad hoc, level of intervention, with a number of couples being 'called into the office' and a number of referrals being made to social welfare. On another farm, where a development organisation had been working successfully for a number of years, the manager likewise indicated that on a few occasions he had taken issue with abusive workers. When asked what form this intervention took, he responded that, …ek sê vir hulle reguit ook in sy gesig 'geen man het die reg om 'n vrou te slaan nie – dit werk net nie so nie'. (FM1). [I tell them straight that 'no man has the right to beat a woman – it just doesn't work like that'.]
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This manager expressed a sense that these interventions were useful in reducing incidents of domestic violence on that farm, although he told us that he had never directly followed up any of the matters in which he had intervened. In all cases, the decision to intervene seemed to depend on the manager's perception of how serious the incident was, or the fact that this abuse had repeatedly come to their attention. Indications are that a 'serious incident' was interpreted as one where there was physical abuse, resulting in injuries, or the involvement of a weapon of sorts. This intervention may extend as far as dismissing the perpetrator of the violence. However, the reality for many women farm workers is that when a male partner loses his job she loses her benefits as well.
On one farm, for example, a male worker was dismissed after he
violently attacked his wife for the umpteenth time. The result, however, of his dismissal and eviction was that his wife, the victim, was also dismissed and she and the children evicted. It should be noted that permanent workers are more likely to have access to farm management than are seasonal workers. This can, to some extent, be attributed to ease of communication, in that they often speak the same language. Xhosa–speaking interviewees on one farm told us that if they wished to raise a matter with the farm manager, they had to take someone along who spoke English (FW 6a&b). It can, however, be further attributed to the racial prejudices that characterise this context. Although management expressed a willingness to call in the police, they also indicated a preference that workers do this themselves.
3.2 Health Care Workers Health care workers indicated that, for the most part, they refer domestic violence cases to social workers.
They expressed a reluctance to refer such matters to the police. When
questioned about the reasons for this reluctance, an interviewee told us that, in her opinion, a) police are already overburdened, and b) women do not want their partners arrested (OA). Interviewees told us that, at times, they do provide counselling to victims of domestic violence and have also provided counselling for the perpetrators of the violence, which has been followed up by an occasional home visit. The reluctance evidenced in referring victims to the police raises a number of issues around perceptions of not only difficulties facing the criminal justice system, but also of the relative severity of domestic violence in context of other 'criminal' activity. These issues are dealt with more fully when looking at the State response to domestic violence below.
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3.3 Non-Governmental Organisations All the organisations saw themselves as engaged in 'development' work on the farms. Only one of those organisations had a programmatic focus on domestic violence. This organisation specifically sets out, through one of its programmes, to raise awareness of domestic violence on farms and, through this work, gains an insight into the extent of the problem. Because the focus of this organisation is on basic socio-economic rights, domestic violence programmes are not run on all farms.
However, incidents of domestic violence do become known to
organisational staff even when addressing themselves to other basic issues. This is true for the other three organisations, who learn about domestic violence via their specific developmental programmes.
For example, one interviewee recounted her experience of
working with women towards equal pay. Although they had, at first, been positive about the idea, the interviewee noticed an increasing fall-off in participation by the women.
On
probing for the reason, she found that it was attributable to their male partners' lack of support. This manifested in a range of behaviour which included, at its extreme, incidents of domestic violence (OH). In light of these experiences, organisations have developed various approaches to dealing with domestic violence. We see these as falling within three broad categories: an immediate response, a long term response and, what we would term a developmental response.
3.3.1 Immediate responses When an incident of domestic violence comes to the attention of those organisations working on farms, they engage in a number of 'immediate' responses. For the three organisations that do not run domestic violence programmes, their first response is, generally, to refer the matter to the fourth organisation or to social welfare. In some cases they may assist in finding out what happened and in following up on the matter. organisation deals specifically with cases of domestic violence.
A staff member at one She provides counselling,
accompanies women to the police station and provides ongoing support where the matter goes to court. This support extends from being in court with the victim, to organising placard demonstrations outside the court. Where matters arise in a group context, all organisational staff stated that they provide the women with an opportunity to share these experiences and, in this way, to offer each other support. One of the interviewees' responses raised the difficult problem of when it is appropriate to intervene.
When asked what they do if confronted with a domestic violence case, the
interviewee responded that,
36
It's normally the case that we're dealing with a male worker and we become aware that his partner is being abused in some way. There's very little that we can do about that. When our client is the woman involved, we obviously will attempt to try and help her – to protect her money, to look for help, to speak to sisters that she knows – whatever her network happens to be (OE).
3.3.2 Long term responses Long term responses of development organisations centre mainly on information sharing. This serves an educational and awareness–raising function, through which farm workers can be informed of new laws and of their basic rights. All organisations indicated that an effort had to be made to ensure that men did not feel excluded by the organisation's attempts to improve women farm worker's livelihoods. The power that men wield in these communities means that their 'displeasure' can seriously impinge on the effectiveness of any development work done. Thus, an interviewee told us that, In the past we only worked with women because our focus was to improve the life of women in agriculture, but we've also come to the realisation that if you want to effect change for women - because women had problems with their husbands: they don't understand what's happening – why is it only the women that go out, or the women go to meetings on a Saturday and they're totally left out. … we made a change in our programme to say no, but we also need to bring men on board, so that men themselves can start to realise that women are at the receiving end of unfair discrimination or domestic violence. They also have to come to realise that and find a joint solution. So, since then men are now part of the programmes … I think it's helpful for men also to see that they are part of the problem and they need to change within themselves. (OH) All organisations interviewed have therefore made a concerted effort to include men in their programmes. These organisations have also recognised the importance of involving farm management, without whose support their programmes are unlikely to succeed. Because farm managers are in a position of authority, they are able to reinforce the message that domestic violence is unacceptable. Another relatively recent development is a focus by organisations on youth work, in an effort to break the cycles of violence and dependency to which they are often subject. One interviewee told us that she considered changing the mindset of young people to be her biggest challenge: Soos ek sê, my grootste challenge is om die jong mense se mindset te change…Jong mense sien dit en hulle dink dit is die regte ding. Hulle raak so groot in die huis – my 37
ma en pa slaan mekaar, so dis die aanvaarbare norm: ek moet my meisie slaan, of ek moet pak kry van my boyfriend (OK)… [As I say, my greatest challenge is to change the mindset of the youth. Young people see things and they think that they are the right thing to do. They grow up like that in the home – my mother and father hit each other, so that's an acceptable norm: I must beat my girlfriend or I must get a hiding from my boyfriend]. Despite this recognition interviewees indicated that it was a constant battle to keep all roleplayers involved (OH). What is more, our fieldwork suggests that very little work is being done to address domestic violence amongst seasonal workers.
3.3.3 The Developmental Response All the organisations interviewed see themselves as addressing domestic violence at an indirect level.
That is, they see their work as improving the livelihoods of women farm
workers and make the assumption that, in so doing, they decrease those women's vulnerability to violence. The approaches that they use include capacity-building, lobbying, advocacy and organising workers on farms. In respect of capacity building, organisations work both with farm workers and with other structures, such as advice offices and trade unions, which serve as a resource to farm worker communities. Organisations identified capacity building amongst farm workers as a critical aspect of their work, in that it served to develop specific skills that helped them to cope with the physical and social realities of the farming context. Organisations dealing with farm workers have always identified the injustices that they face as a political issue.
As a result, lobbying and advocacy have been central to their
interventions. Where earlier lobbying and advocacy activities occurred on behalf of farm workers, there has been a marked shift towards developing the capacity of farm workers to do so for themselves.
These activities have also extended beyond solely targeting
government structures, to other sources of power implicated in ensuring that farm workers' rights are realised and upheld.
These include farm management, schools (around, for
example, school fees) and maintenance offices. Following from this, organising workers has become an integral strategy for these organisations.
This stems from a recognition that it is easier to change the position of
workers when they act collectively.
Organisations have attempted to establish a 'united
farming community' on the farms where they work and have begun forging links with trade unions.
Unions are, by their nature, able to fulfil a supportive function in ensuring that
workers' rights are recognised and upheld. It must be noted, however, that farm workers are
38
one of the most difficult groups to organise, as a result of the deep divisions that mark this context and the wide distances between farms.
3.4 State responses: The Domestic Violence Act The Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998 came into effect in December 1999.
This Act
represents a concrete response from a State committed to addressing high levels of domestic violence. One of the challenges facing South Africa is ensuring that progressive legislation and policies are effectively implemented, particularly in the most marginalised communities. This is starkly illustrated in the farming context, where there is little knowledge of new legislation and where experiences of accessing and dealing with the criminal justice system are overwhelmingly negative. In this section we look at the extent to which farm workers are aware of the Domestic Violence Act, the experiences of those who use this legislation and the reasons why many farm workers might not consider this a viable option. Obtaining Protection under the Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998 The Domestic Violence Act (DVA) does not criminalise or create an offence of 'domestic violence'. Rather, it provides a civil remedy for obtaining protection against further abuse, by means of a protection order. Only if this order is breached, can the abuser be charged with an offence, conviction for which may attract a term of imprisonment of up to five years. To obtain a protection order, an applicant must go through a two–stage process. On first approaching the court, the applicant applies for an interim protection order. This is granted by the court, if a magistrate is satisfied that the contents of the application form (which requires the applicant to detail the abuse that she has suffered) indicates the prima facie presence of abuse and that the applicant will suffer undue hardship if a temporary order is not issued immediately. The interim protection order includes a specific return date, upon which the magistrate may hear evidence on the matter from both the applicant and respondent. This interim protection order is served, by the Sheriff of the Court or by a police official, on the respondent. Only once service has been effective does the protection order come into force. On the return date the interim protection order may be finalised, varied or set aside. Both the interim and final protection orders are accompanied by a suspended warrant of arrest, which becomes operative on a breach of the protection order by the respondent. Upon a breach of the protection order the applicant must approach the police, who must, where there are reasonable grounds to believe that the applicant will suffer imminent harm if they do not do so, arrest the perpetrator. Where such grounds do not exist, the police official must hand the respondent a written notice to appear in court.
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3.4.1 Knowledge and Experiences of the Domestic Violence Act Access to justice is premised upon knowing about the existence and the content of relevant legislation. We asked farm workers whether they knew of the DVA and what they knew of it. We also asked farm management, health care workers and organisations whether they believed farm workers to be acquainted with the Act. 3.4.1.1 Farm Workers The overwhelming response from farm workers was that they did not know about the DVA. The few who knew of it, knew little of its content. This is illustrated by the response of seasonal workers to our questions, with a spokesperson summarising the views expressed by the other workers as follows: We don't know about that. Some say it's new in our ears, some say they heard about it over the radio and didn't bother thereafter. (FW4) Other interviewees also spoke of acquiring knowledge of the DVA through the radio. Although an overwhelming number of farm workers were not aware of the Act, there were those who had made use of it. Invariably, all interviewees also knew, at least anecdotally, of someone who had used the Act. These specific experiences, and more general experiences of the criminal justice system, greatly influenced farm workers' perceptions of the utility of taking this route. The bulk of the stories shared by farm workers about their engagement with the law were negative.
This seems to be mostly attributable to the attitude of the police, with one
interviewee sharing that, Sometimes they (the police) do not take the reports, most especially when a woman reports a physical abuse by her husband. They say if it's your husband or boyfriend they have nothing to do with that. They should resolve their problems together. (FW5a) Prejudice – real or perceived – against farm workers raises a serious barrier between them and the criminal justice system. One farm worker simply said to us that there is no point phoning the police on a Friday night to report domestic violence, as the first question asked by the police was whether they'd been drinking or were drunk. As such, initial engagement with the police may be sufficient, in itself, to dissuade the woman from taking further action. And where further action is taken, the same attitudinal problems and poor service may further convince her that the legal route is simply not viable. 40
This is well illustrated by the response of an interviewee when asked whether a colleague who had experienced abuse had approached the police: Ja, sy was. Maar die polisie het haar uitgelag. Hulle sou die interdik by die plaas stuur en tot nou nog niks… (FW1) [Yes, she did. But the police laughed her off. They were supposed to send the interdict (protection order) to the farm, but up 'til now nothing.] Despite the effort that this farm worker had made to obtain a protection order and the possible risk that this entailed to her, the police had not taken her seriously and she still had no legal protection. This feeds into an attitude amongst farm workers that there is no benefit to be gained in turning to the law and a general disaffection with the criminal justice system. There was, however, also a recognition amongst interviewees that the police were not only under-resourced, but were also being asked to deal with difficult situations. An interviewee expressed this complexity as follows: En al wat 'n ou moet doen, jy moet natuurlik die polisie bel. En die probleem met die polisie is ons het 'n tekort aan mannekrag hier. Werklik. En dit vat baie kere lank voordat die polisie uitkom. En as hulle kom, dan is die dinge verby …of die ouens is weg en hulle kan absoluut niks maak nie. So word sake … nie uitgesorteer nie, soos dit moet kom nie. En mense 'worry' net nie weer agterna om weer die polisie te bel of om te gaan verder daarmee. (FW7a) [All that one can do is to call the police. The problem with the police is that they have a shortage of manpower here. Really. And it often takes a long time for the police to arrive here. And when they come the incident is already over … or the people involved have left and there is absolutely nothing that they can do. So, cases don't get sorted out as they should. And people don't worry after that about phoning the police or taking the matter further.] The reluctance of farm workers to engage with the legal system can only be partly ascribed to their experiences with the police.
In respect of domestic violence fear is also a potent
factor, as is graphically described below: “Op xxxx verlede jaar was ‘n vrou dood geslaan, 3-uur in die nag, omdat niemand wou betrokke raak nie. Sy het uitgespring by die venster, hulp gaan soek, buite gehardloop. Haar man het haar gaan haal, hy het haar terug gejaag,… hy het haar weer in die huis in en hy het haar doodgeslaan met ‘n pik. Want xxxx se mense het deur die vensters gehang en gekyk. Die plaaswerker vertel dat sy het tussen die mense in die werk gesê vanaand gaan hy my doodmaak. Hy het gesê hy gaan haar doodmaak. Hy het haar nugter doodgemaak, hy was nie dronk nie. Die plaaswerker sê sy het na haar toe gekom en sy het vir haar gesê ‘Bxxxx hy het gesê hy gaan my 41
dood maak’. Bxxxx het vir haar gesê, maar sy moet ‘n interdik teen hom kry. ‘Kry ‘n interdik, as jy nie ‘n interdik het gaan die man jou nooit los nie’. Sy sê nee hy het gesê as ek ‘n interdik kry slaan hy my dood by die polisie stasie. Sy het vir haar gesê gaan na die voorman toe laat die voorman vir jou neem. Daai selfde nag is sy dood geslaan”. (OK) [On xxxx last year, a woman was beaten to death at 3 in the morning, because no one wanted to get involved. She jumped out of her house window and ran outside to get help. Her partner/husband went to fetch her, he chased her back into the house and beat her to death with an axe. The people on xxxx looked through their windows and watched. A farm worker said that this woman had told the other workers that he was going to kill her that night. She told them that he said he would kill her tonight. He was sober when he killed her; he was not drunk at all. The farm worker said that she came to her and said “Bxxxx, he said he is going to kill me’. Bxxxx said to her that she should apply for an interdict as a way of getting rid of him. She told her that he said that if she applied for an interdict he would beat her to death at the police station. Bxxx said to her that she should ask the foreman to take her. That same day she was beaten to death.] 3.4.1.2 Farm Management Farm managers showed little knowledge of the DVA and had little insight into whether the workers knew of the Act. One manager (FM4) told us unequivocally that his workers all had knowledge of the Act. This was not borne out in our subsequent interviews with four of those workers.
Because the final consequence of taking action under the DVA is arrest of the
abuser, we asked farm managers how they felt about this possibility.
All interviewees
indicated that short term arrest was generally acceptable and that the worker's wages would simply be docked for the period. However, longer term arrest would inevitably result in dismissal. Because men are often employed in key positions and the work needs to be done, a new person will have to be employed, meaning that the arrested worker will lose all benefits on the farm, including housing. Whereas the risk that the victim will, as a result, lose her benefits (work and housing) is high for women who have work contracts that are independent of their partners, it is particularly acute for women living but not working on the farm. It should also be remembered that many women who do work on the farms do so without any formal employment contract. The potential loss that may be incurred by taking legal action serves as a substantial deterrent. This is illustrated by the following interview excerpt, which shows how management on one of the farms deals with the consequences of legal action: FM3: And of course we remind them of their rights to seek legal assistance. They're reluctant to do that because it's a catch 22 situation which most women find themselves in, whereby if I lay a charge or go to court and my husband loses his job, where do I end up. 42
Interviewer: From what you were saying about housing the women would then be protected? FM3: Yes, but some of them aren't employed. So if, for example, the male is charged and actually sentenced and away from the workplace for quite an extended period, (the farm) would have no choice but to go the incapacity route. He's not here, he's in breach of his employment contract. The wife is not employed by (the farm). So, should he be dismissed on grounds of incapacity, in terms of his lease agreement with (the farm), he loses his house. And that would mean…there's no employment contract between (the farm) and the wife and the family – she would lose her housing too. For most farm workers, whose livelihoods are so marginal, this risk is just too high. Farm managers do not want to be social workers. There is an increasing move towards a 'factory' type relationship between farm managers and workers (see Box 3.2.1 above). As such, they appear unlikely to welcome legal remedies that require their involvement or that inconvenience them. In similar vein, one of the managers indicated that his experience of correctional supervision had not been positive, as he had previously found that the matter was not followed up properly by the Department of Correctional Services, and felt that the onus for ensuring good behaviour then fell on his shoulders (FM1). 3.4.1.3 Health Care Workers We asked health care workers whether they thought that the farm workers that they worked with were aware of the DVA. Both believed farm workers to be unaware of the Act. One pointed out, however, that while they might not know specifically about the DVA, they did know that they could go to the police for help and that they could lay a charge (OA). It became apparent during the interviews, that the health care workers themselves had very little knowledge or understanding of the Act. The following conversation is illustrative of this point: OA: Kan jy 'n interdik kry sonder 'n klag? Interviewer: Ja OA: So as hy jou die eerste keer aanrand, kan jy 'n interdik kry? Interviewer: Ja OA: Maar dan verloor jy nou…dan moet jy… Interviewer: Die interdik het spesifieke… OA: Ok dan moet hy nie naby jou kom nie, maar wat dan… Interviewer: Nee, nee jy kan so spesifiseer dat hy jou net nie mag aanrand nie….
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OA: O so hulle kan nog steeds 'n huis deel. O nee ek het nie daai interpretasie geken nie … Dit is eintlik meer aanvaarbaar. Ek dink hulle sal dit makliker aanvaar, want hulle man word nie gearresteer nie, maar daar is soort van die wet kyk na my… Ek het nogal nie hierdie enitjie geweet nie. [OA: Can you obtain an interdict without laying a charge? Interviewer: Yes. OA: Can you get an interdict if he assaults you for the first time? Interviewer: Yes OA: But then you lose … then you must … Interviewer: The interdict is specific… OA: OK. So he shouldn't come near you, but what then? Interviewer: No, no, you can specify that he should not assault you … OA: So, they can still share a house? Oh, I didn't know that interpretation. That is actually more acceptable. I think they will accept it more easily, because their husbands are not arrested. But there is a sense that the law is looking after me. I actually didn't know about this.] Both health care workers believed that laying a criminal charge was a prerequisite for obtaining an interdict. As such, they did not see the legal route as being a particularly viable option in the absence of substantial physical abuse. The most important reasons given by them were that women do not want their partners arrested or for them to get a criminal record. They also pointed to the possible consequences for the women of taking action, as a result of their extreme vulnerability: Jy weet … die mans kry gewoonlik die huise, so as hulle die man verlaat dan het hulle nie ‘n huis nie. Baie keer werk die vrouens nie, hulle doen mos die seisoen werk. Die man werk permanent op die plaas, so dan is daar ook nie inkomstes nie. (OA) [You know… normally it is the men who are given houses. So, if the woman leaves the man she loses her house. Often the women do not work – they do seasonal work, while the men are permanently employed on the farm. So then she also loses her income.] Although health care workers did not have much knowledge of the DVA, they did show a remarkable awareness of the social and economic realities that face women on farms. The fears expressed above are also readily applicable to the DVA, given that the ultimate sanction envisaged by the Act is the abuser's arrest. Health care workers also showed insight into the difficulties of policing domestic violence. They recognise that the reluctance of farm workers to engage with the police derives not only from a poor policing response but also from an appreciation of the resource constraints facing police. 44
This recognition is informed, at least in part, by the health care workers' own
perceptions of the extent of these constraints, which include a shortage of police officers, inadequate training and heavy workloads. As a consequence police are forced to prioritise the cases to which they respond and those seeking assistance from the police are perceived as being given inadequate service and advice.
This undoubtedly precluded our interviewees
from referring matters to the police. Of even greater concern to health workers was their sense that domestic violence is perhaps not most appropriately dealt with via the criminal justice system. Instead, they felt that, as a complex social problem, domestic violence called for a more nuanced intervention. The legal system can provide no more than a blunt response to the problem and may, by its nature, therefore create additional difficulties for the victim.
This concern is reflected
below: Ek dink baie keer … dat jy skep dalk net nog ‘n situasie. … jou bronne moet reg wees. In so geval, sê maar hulle kom by die polisie uit, help dit ook nie jy vul net ‘n papier in nie. Daar moet amper ook ‘n sielkundige daar wees, wat kan evalueer wat is die werklike storie daar agter... Maar waar die polisieman gaan miskien net die een kant van die storie hoor. En hy weet nie presies waaroor dit gaan nie. Dat dit vir hom dalk ook ‘n stress kan wees en hy moet, op daardie stadium moet hy reageer op wat die persoon gaan sê. So dit kan dalk ook net ‘n moeiliker situasie skep, waar sê maar die kinders weg geneem raak of ‘n baie groter ingreep kom wat dalk nie nodig was nie. Dat jy dalk op die ou einde meer sielkundige probleme veroorsaak. Ek is net bang daarvoor. (OB) [I think that often you just create another situation … you need to draw on the right resources. In a case of domestic violence, for example, going to the police and filling out a piece of paper doesn't necessarily help. Perhaps you also need a psychologist who can give insight into the real problem, whereas the police officer might only get one side of the story and doesn't understand its precise nature. This can also be stressful for the police officer, as he has to respond at that moment to what he has been told. This response can actually create a more difficult situation where, for example, the children are removed or the intervention is greater than is actually required. In the end you can end up creating greater psychological damage. That is what I'm afraid of.] 3.4.1.4 Non-Governmental Organisations Organisational staff echoed the views expressed above that farm workers do not, generally, know about the Act. Where an organisation had done extensive awareness raising on specific farms, there were 'resource people' who had a good knowledge of the law. Indications were, however, that this did not extend to a generalised knowledge amongst the farm worker community.
Two of the interviewees noted the need to engage in continuous awareness
raising around both the issue of domestic violence and the remedies available (OF & OK). As 45
would be expected, all interviewees showed an understanding of who could apply for protection, under which circumstances they could apply, and how this protection could be obtained. All organisational staff expressed a level of scepticism, however, about the extent to which the DVA could ever really be accessible to marginalised communities like farm workers. This scepticism often derived from their own experiences of assisting victims through the criminal justice system and from the personal stories of farm workers.
An organisational worker
recounts: OC: I remember this one particular case where the woman said to me 'but I went to the police'. And when she got there the guy just said to her 'ja, you women you deserve it' blah, blah, blah. So she's been through that abuse and she finally builds up the courage to go to the police, and then this is the kind of context that she's been met with. And I think that, particularly in the farm context, where you have this problem that there is no real privacy – people know. So if this is what happened to me, the whole farm is going to know this is how it happened. It's really going to put women off. Next time it happens to somebody else on the farm they're not going to go to the police, because they're going to know this is what's going to happen. Interviewer: You don't know of any women that have gotten interdicts? OC: Not one single woman. I think Women on Farms – but also only because they were assisted. I don't think a normal woman farm worker can just… Ja, I think it's very difficult for them. Because they wouldn't even know, unless someone goes with them to the police station and insists that this woman needs an interdict.
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CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSION
1. INTRODUCTION The farming context throughout South Africa is in flux. It has been affected by a range of new legislation,13 the removal of government protection from the agricultural sector and by trade deregulation in response to the demands of global markets. As a result there has been a broad shift in relations on farms between not only farm workers and owners, but also between farm workers themselves. Even on the small sample of three farms that we studied, some of these were evident. On these farms managers were intent on moving their workers off the farm, as the opportunity arose to do so; they expressed a preference for a small core of permanent workers, supplemented by a larger casual workforce; and were turning to labour contractors to provide them with workers. On the surface these shifts can be seen as potentially beneficial in increasing workers' independence and providing more opportunities for women to gain employment. However, one has to be cognisant that they can equally serve to increase the vulnerability of already marginalised farm workers, whose employment is no more secure and their housing possibly more insecure than ever before. Inevitably, women in particular are caught in a cycle that means that they never escape 'being poor' and therefore being dependent. Domestic violence is pervasive within farming communities, ranging through verbal, economic, sexual and physical abuse to intimidation and harassment. We have found that the response of various role-players to this violence has generally been ad hoc. Farm workers are loathe to involve themselves in the affairs of others, in the belief that this is inappropriate and for fear of being victimised themselves. Management is equally hesitant to get involved in these matters. Both health care workers and organisational staff seemed, at times, to be unclear as to what role they could play in addressing domestic violence.
All direct
interventions occurred as a result of specific incidents of domestic violence on a particular farm. Despite the high levels of violence on those farms, no preventative programmes were in place at the time we conducted our research. The only structured interventions that were in place were those of development organisations, whose work was aimed at improving the livelihoods of women. In so doing,
13
See, for example, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997, the recently promulgated Sectoral Determination 8: Farm Worker Sector and the Extension of Security of Tenure Act 62 of 1997.
47
they also believed themselves to be reducing those women's vulnerability to violence. This assumption may in fact be simplistic given that the work they do creates shifts in power relations and this inevitably brings the increased risk of violence.
We believe that it is
therefore critical to reflect on the consequences that may arise from these responses. Another more formal response is reflected in the Domestic Violence Act.
However, our
research indicates that not many farm workers are aware of the existence, and certainly not of the content, of the Act. Those who knew of the Act generally believed it to be ineffective. This ineffectiveness is a result of a number of complex interactions: police are inadequately resourced to fulfil their duties, while farm workers do not have the resources required to allow them to access the system. Similarly, the attitudes of police officers towards farm workers and the resultant antipathy of farm workers towards the police constitutes a substantial barrier. For many farm workers, the DVA is simply not an option. Our findings suggest that instead farm workers are more comfortable turning to their communities for support and assistance. In our discussion we will look at the appropriateness of both the developmental response and the DVA in the farming context and raise key points for consideration in developing more effective community responses.
2. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND DEVELOPMENT Organisations working on farms have responded to the needs identified by farm workers and their programmes address those needs. The bulk of their work therefore focuses on labour, land tenure, maintenance and capacity building.
The ultimate purpose is to ensure that
workers are aware of their rights and equipped with skills through which they can advocate on their own behalf. The beneficiaries of these development programmes are often women, who have long been identified as a particularly marginal group. We also know that this group is particularly vulnerable to domestic violence. Women on farms find themselves in a position where a number of factors come together to exacerbate their vulnerability to domestic violence.
In the first instance, a substantial
number of women are still employed on farms only by virtue of the fact that their male partner is employed. Similarly, a majority of women report that their housing is directly linked to their male partner's employment contract. In order to understand the risk involved for women on farms in addressing domestic violence it is important that we reiterate that 48,6% of farmers interviewed by Sunde and Gerntholz (1999) indicated that should a man working on their farm be dismissed or die, his family would be evicted. These insecurities facing women make decisions about how to deal with domestic violence particularly difficult. Women fear that any action they take may result in a loss of employment and housing for them and their children. 48
This is further exacerbated by the fact that women on farms
generally have low levels of education, reducing the possibility of obtaining alternative employment.
When women choose to leave an abusive relationship they cannot rely on
obtaining social welfare support from the State or on the enforcement of maintenance orders against their erstwhile partners. Given this picture it is not surprising that development organisations see their programmes, aimed at the empowerment of women, as serving to reduce their vulnerability to domestic violence. For the most part the goal of these organisations is to ensure that women gain greater independence from the men in their lives through having their own employment contracts, equal wages for equal pay, independent tenure security, training and education and access to basic social services. In this way, the position of women on farms is improved, increasing their exit options and, along with that, their bargaining power within their relationships. While this strategy may seem like a good idea, when we begin to look at the nature of domestic violence, it becomes apparent that this approach also carries substantial risks. Domestic violence is an extreme expression of women's oppression within a patriarchal society. That is, a society that is founded on the core principle that men are superior to and therefore enjoy greater status benefits than women. This is starkly illustrated in the farming context, where men hold on tenaciously to the roles and benefits that they consider to be theirs by right. To change the position of women on farms means a shift in power between women and men. For men that means a perception that they are required to relinquish or are forcibly deprived of their perceived rights. By seeking to improve the position of women, development initiatives inevitably lead to shifts within the power dynamic that marks household relations. With the empowerment of women there seems to come a fear amongst men that women can be 'something more' and therefore less dependent on men. This means that perhaps women will become less 'answerable' to the men in their lives. Because men perceive this shift as a loss of power, they take steps to reassert their authority. On the one hand this may occur merely through suggestions to the women from their partners that certain behaviour, like cooking and cleaning, is most appropriately done by women and that it is not appropriate, for example, for women to earn the same as men, men being the breadwinners. On the other hand, this assertion of power may occur by violent means or the threat of violence. Ironically, this violence may serve to reduce women's participation in the very development initiatives that seek to empower them. Hence the example of a fall-off of women's participation in lobbying for equal pay on one farm: when pressed for reasons the women indicated that their partners objected to the initiative.
The men felt that they
should, by right, be earning more than their wives, despite the fact that an increase in the women's wages would result in an increase to the overall household income. In some cases this dissatisfaction had manifested itself in incidents of domestic violence. It is this threat of violence that is of most concern to us. It is clear when we look at the nature of domestic violence, premised as it is on unequal power relations, and the nature of 49
development activities that inevitably impact these relations that there is the potential for increased levels of domestic violence where development programmes occur. As such it is critical that development practitioners give careful consideration to the fact that the work that they do creates shifts and that these shifts may be accompanied by violence. It is also imperative that they develop safety-plans as a means of dealing with the potential risks to women that may arise out of their programme or the services they offer.
3. THE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ACT AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE RESPONSE Most of our interviewees did not know about the existence of the DVA or of its contents. The obvious response to this finding is to go onto farms and educate workers about the DVA. However the same concern arises when looking at this form of rights education as does when considering development initiatives. That is, making women aware of their rights may lead to increased violence when they try to assert those rights. It is therefore very important that education around the DVA be done in a way that is sensitive to the peculiar risks that face women farm workers and that it be accompanied by ongoing support. A more intractable problem is the fact that many interviewees felt the legal route itself to be inappropriate for dealing with domestic violence. They spoke of the barriers faced by farm workers in their attempts to access the justice system.
Most obviously farms are
geographically isolated, which means that irregular and expensive transport services must be used in order to go into town and obtain a protection order or lay a charge. In order to call the police to attend to a domestic violence incident, a woman may also need to access and possibly pay for the use of a telephone. Further barriers lie in the process of obtaining a protection order and in its ultimate enforcement. In order to obtain such an order, most women will have to take three days off work: one to make application, another to collect the interim order and a further day for finalisation of the order. Inevitably, they are not paid for this time off work. They may also have to engage additional child minders for those days. Service of the protection order costs at least R70 and although provision is made for the State to cover costs for those who do not have the means to pay, in reality this seldom happens (Parenzee, Artz and Moult, 2001). An incident of domestic violence may also result in the woman being hospitalised or needing medical attention, which requires more days off work and additional expenses. Breach of a protection order may result in the arrest of the perpetrator and a possible jail term of five years. Ultimately it is assumed that the protection order will effectively inhibit further abuse because the perpetrator does not wish to go to jail.
In fact, our findings
suggest that, within the farming context, the threat of imprisonment may act as more of a deterrent to the victim than the perpetrator.
The fact that the woman's continued
employment and/or housing on the farm is tied in to her male partner's continued 50
employment, means that the potential cost of his arrest is enormous. Farm managers all indicated that the extended imprisonment of the male employee would 'necessitate' the ultimate eviction of his partner and family. It is important therefore, within this context, to consider the possibility of alternative sentencing options. For this to be effective not only do we need to develop a broad sentencing framework, but magistrates need to give careful consideration to each perpetrator's specific context. An important aspect that needs to be considered is that the sentence should not place an undue burden for enforcement on farm management, as may happen, for example, in the case of correctional supervision. Of great concern to us was the fact that women do not seem to be reaching the courts, even where they choose to engage with the criminal justice system. In this respect, resource and attitudinal issues within the police service seem to constitute a substantial barrier. While most of our interviewees were sympathetic to the fact that the police operate under substantial constraints in terms of staffing levels and the number of vehicles available on a given shift, the fact remains that women on farms are not able to rely on the police to respond to their urgent requests for assistance. Even more problematic, and more difficult to address, is the attitude of police officers towards domestic violence in the farming context. This attitude is perceived amongst farm workers as playing out in a reluctance by the police to take farm worker complaints of domestic violence seriously. These attitudes stem from a perception that the farm worker context is characterised by high levels of violence and alcohol abuse. It is not uncommon to hear reports that where farm workers call the police on a Friday night to attend to a domestic violence incident, the first question asked by the police is whether the parties were drunk. Clearly perceptions that there are generally high levels of violence on farms, particularly on weekends, tends to minimise the importance that police attach to reports of domestic violence.
The police play a potentially important role in
demonstrating the State's commitment to addressing domestic violence, by taking domestic violence complaints seriously. As the first contact point for many women, the attitudes of individual police officers can serve to substantially inhibit her from engaging in any further contact with the criminal justice system. What is more, in relatively closed communities other people quickly become aware that the legal option is effectively closed to them. In this way entire communities may simply come to view the State response as ineffective to their context.
4. TAKING A MULTI-PRONGED APPROACH TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE In reflecting on responses to the high levels of domestic violence on farms, and particularly looking at the developmental response and the DVA, we are struck by the need to take a multi-pronged approach in dealing with domestic violence. Clearly, on their own none of the responses discussed above is adequate for dealing with this problem.
Each requires the
involvement and support of a number of other systems. For example, even where the police 51
respond effectively to domestic violence incidents, their intervention may be ultimately ineffective where a victim is left without a job or a home. It is therefore crucial that sectors such as labour, housing and social welfare take their place within a broader intervention strategy. Similarly, developmental responses on the farm require more than simply working with farm workers, but also the buy-in of farm management.
The involvement of farm
management must go beyond merely allowing developmental organisations access to farm workers and should include the development of policies aimed at reinforcing the message that domestic violence is unacceptable and reducing the cost to women of taking action. This message can further be entrenched through the involvement of trade unions and other people identified as influential within that context. Our research suggests that health care workers may be important role-players in this respect, as they interact regularly with community members at a very personal level and are therefore well placed to screen patients and provide advice. It is therefore important that health care workers receive ongoing training and support on how to deal with domestic violence. Social workers also come into regular contact with farm workers, often through referrals from other role players, and as such they may constitute a key resource for victims of domestic violence. The role that key people (such as health care and social workers, teachers and religious leaders) currently play in addressing domestic violence on farms, the nature and effectiveness of their interventions and potential ways in which this can be maximised requires further research. The most important aspect of taking a multi-pronged approach to dealing with domestic violence is the need to build community resistance and responses. Our research indicates that community members choose not to become involved for a number of reasons. They fear that they will be drawn into the affairs of others and that they may even be hurt, engaging in a matter that is after all a private affair and sometimes even justified.
In developing
effective community responses to domestic violence, it is necessary to build an environment that allows members to feel safe when intervening in such matters. This requires effective policing and support from management structures on the farm. As suggested above, farm workers must feel that that the police will respond effectively to their requests for assistance.
Likewise, as an immediate source of authority, the farm manager is able to
ensure that certain rules of conduct are adhered to. Engaging with farm workers around the private nature and justification of domestic violence gives rise to the same thorny issue raised throughout this discussion: one cannot engage in such a conversation without directly challenging patriarchal structures and entrenched beliefs around the nature of the family. To do so is to create shifts, the perception of a loss of power and authority, and the risk of further violence. Dealing with these shifts requires a recognition of these power dynamics, along with careful interventions and ongoing support.
52
5. CONCLUDING REMARKS AND KEY POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION The research raises a number of important points for consideration. While most of these are directed to non-governmental development organisations and the criminal justice system, with some aimed at farm management, farm worker communities, health workers and other government agencies, they all speak to the importance of intersectoral co-operation and a multi-pronged approach in addressing domestic violence. These key points are as follows:
!Development organisations should consider the following realities when planning any intervention:
the context in which they work is one where gender relations are fundamentally skewed and essentially patriarchal in nature;
domestic violence is an extreme means by which this status quo is maintained; and
attempts to shift the status quo may therefore result in an increased risk of domestic violence.
!As such it is critical that they:
weigh up the potential costs and benefits that their programmes may hold for farm worker communities and individual farm workers;
that this be done in consultation with those communities;
that together with those communities and other role-players they develop 'safety plans' as a means of dealing with the potential costs; and
that the effectiveness of these plans be continually monitored and evaluated in consultation with the community and other organisations.
!They should also consider:
developing a policy for dealing with domestic violence that comes to their attention, whether it is the victim or the perpetrator that is their client;
the fact that often women's issues become sidelined when involving men in programmes; and
that plans need to be developed to avoid this happening.
!Criminal justice personnel continue to require:
ongoing training around the contents of the DVA and the roles that various sectors should assume in the implementation thereof;
education around the complex nature of domestic violence, particularly within marginalised communities, and the impact that this violence has on the victim.
53
!Steps must be taken to build relationships between the police, who are often the first point of contact, and farm workers. These may include:
introducing key farm worker representatives to members of the police station that serve their area; and
joint awareness raising workshops between police and farm workers.
!Magistrates should consider:
the role that they can play in reducing the costs to farm workers of applying for a protection order, by making an order for emergency monetary relief14 under s7(4) of the DVA. Proper application of this provision, which may require the co-operation of farm managers, should substantially ameliorate the indirect costs that deter women farm workers from using the DVA.
!To this end:
Close co-operation is also required between the courts and the police serving farming communities to ensure that the cost of serving the protection order is minimised.
!In order to develop creative sentencing options that can be effectively implemented:
all relevant stakeholders, including magistrates, police, parole officers, farm managers and farm workers must be consulted.
Sentencing options may include weekend or other forms of periodic imprisonment, correctional supervision and community service.
!In order to facilitate dispute resolution:
Farm managers, in consultation with the community and service providers, need to develop complaints mechanisms.
While these can be structured around worker committees, it is important that, for all farm workers, there is also a direct line of communication to management, which can be used when it is a worker representative that is abusive.
14
Emergency monetary relief is defined in s1 of the DVA as: … compensation for monetary losses suffered by a complainant at the time of the issue of a protection order as a result of the domestic violence, including(a) loss of earnings; (b) medical and dental expenses; (c) relocation and accommodation expenses; or (d) household necessities;
54
!To raise awareness of domestic violence amongst farm workers:
farm workers and development organisations should make use of all forms of media (including radio, community newspapers and newsletters).
!And, as part of an ongoing effort to build strong relations between communities and the criminal justice system:
these media stories should include those cases that have been handled well, as well as those which have been problematic.
!Health care workers engaging directly with farm workers should:
receive thorough training on the various remedies, including the DVA, available to victims of domestic violence;
receive additional training for counselling victims of domestic violence and be equipped with the skills to critically evaluate the effectiveness thereof;
should be drawn into the development of safety plans for farm workers faced with domestic violence.
!The Department of Health should consider:
developing a domestic violence protocol that sets out how health care workers should deal with the widespread prevalence of domestic violence.
!Government agencies need to recognise that:
women's vulnerability to violence is exacerbated by a lack of access to housing, shelters, social welfare and adequate transportation. The effect is particularly acute in marginal communities like those living on farms;
each agency needs a strategy that clearly outlines its role in addressing domestic violence;
they need to work far more closely with communities to come up with localised strategies for dealing with domestic violence.
!All stakeholders involved in addressing domestic violence should have access to a resource directory which allows for prompt referrals to service providers.
!Because assisting victims of domestic violence can be very traumatic for those offering assistance:
it is critical that criminal justice personnel, organisational staff and health care workers are provided with systemic support. 55
REFERENCES Artz, L. (1997) Access to Justice for Rural Women: Special Focus on Violence Against Rural Women Institute of Criminology, University of Cape Town Baden, S. Gender, Governance and the 'feminisation of poverty' Background paper for UNDP Management and Development Division Conference on Women and Political Participation in the 21st century. 24-26 March 1999, New Delhi, India Barnett, O. and Fagan, R. (1993) ‘Alcohol use in male spouse abusers and their female partners’ in Journal of Family Violence vol 8 no 1 Bennett, J. (1999) A Preliminary Assessment of Current South African Research being undertaken (or completed) on Connections Between Gender-based Violence, Peace-building and Development Initiatives in South Africa. African Gender Institute, University of Cape Town Community Development Resource Association Measuring Development – Holding Infinity Annual Report 2000/1 Dangor, Z., Hoff, L. and Scott, R. (1998) 'Women abuse in South Africa: an exploratory study' in Violence Against Women vol4 no2 April. Fast, H. (1997) Farm Workers in the Western Cape: Current Conditions and Options for Change Report for the Surplus People's Project Fast, H. (1999) 'Who holds the share? Gender dynamics and share – equity schemes in Agenda no. 42 Glasser, J. (2002) 'Cycle of Shame' in US News and World Report Cover Story 20 June 2002 Greenberg, S. (1996) State of Farmworkers Report for the Farmworkers Research and Resource Project Hill Lanz, S. (1994) Women on Farms: A report on women farmworkers in the Western Cape, Lawyers for Human Rights, Pretoria Human Rights Committee (June 2000) Farmworkers in the Western Cape New York: Human Rights Watch Makkai T. (1997) ‘Alcohol and Disorder in the Australian Community: Part 1 – Victims’ in Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology Makkai, T. (1998) ‘Alcohol and Disorder in the Australian Community: Part 2 – Perpetrators’ in Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology Manby, B. (2001) Unequal Protection: The State Response to Violent Crime on South African Farms New York: Human Rights Watch. Mathews, S. and Abrahams, N. (2001) Combining Stories and Numbers: An Analysis of the Impact of the Domestic Violence Act (No. 116 of 1998) on Women. Cape Town: Gender Advocacy Programme and Medical Research Council's Gender and Health Research Group. Narayan, D. (1999) 'Can Anyone Hear Us? Voices from 47 Countries' Voices of the Poor vol1. Poverty Group PREM World Bank
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Narayan, D., Chambers, R., Shah, M. and Petesch, P. (2000) Crying Out for Change Voices of the Poor vol2. New York: Oxford University Press. Parenzee, P., Artz, L. and Moult, K. (2001) Monitoring the Implementation of the Domestic Violence Act: First Report. Cape Town: Institute of Criminology, University of Cape Town, South Africa. Sen, A. (1999) Development as Freedom New York: Anchor Books. Sen, A.(2001) 'Many faces of gender inequality' in Frontline v18 issue 22 (October 27 – November 9) Sunde, J. and Gerntholz, L. (1999) '"Die man is die dak, die vrou is die vloer" – lobbying for women farmworkers' rights' in Agenda no.42 Sunde, J. and Kleinbooi, K. (1999) 'Women Workers at Home and in the Community' in Promoting Equitable and Sustainable Development for Women Farmworkers in the Western Cape. Stellenbosch: Centre for Rural Legal Studies. Tshehla, B. (2002) 'Non-State Justice in Post-Apartheid South Africa—A Scan of Khayelitsha' in African Sociological Review 6(2). Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre (1998) Exploring the Link Between Poverty and Violence against Women Submission to the South African National NGO Coalition's 'Speak Out on Poverty'. Turner, S. and Ibsen, H. (2000) Land and agrarian reform in South Africa: a status report. Cape Town: Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape. Visaria, L. (1999) 'Violence against Women in India: Evidence from Rural Gujarat' in Domestic Violence in India – A summary report of three studies. Washington DC: International Center for Research on Women.
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APPENDIX: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE ORGANISATIONAL STAFF
[A] Organisational Work Context and Development 1. What is the role of your organisation with regards to the farm worker community? 2. What specific programme(s) do you work on? 3. 4. 5. 6.
How did this programme come about? What have been the successes of this programme(s)? What are some of the challenges you have been faced with in doing this work? How do you define your work i.e. as development work?
[B] Exploring the Prevalence of Domestic Violence 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
Do you encounter incidences of domestic violence when doing your work on farms? Which parties are involved in the domestic violence? What is the form of domestic violence that you encounter? Do you see alcohol having a significant impact on the domestic violence? In what ways do you encounter this i.e. people talk about it, you witness it etc.
12. Does your work focus on domestic violence? If so, to what extent? 13. How do you deal with incidences of domestic violence brought to your attention? 14. What would you describe is the impact of domestic violence on your project/programme? Do you think it has an impact on your programme? 15. Are the farm workers you work with aware of domestic violence laws? Do they access those laws? If yes, what have their experiences been? If not, what do they access and why? 16. Do you think domestic violence should be addressed on farms? What would be the best way to do this?
FARM WORKERS [a] 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Identifying information How old are you? Are you married? How many children do you have? How long have you worked on the farm? How long have you lived on the farm? How long have you lived off the farm? Has movement off the farm shifted things? 6. What type of work do you do on the farm? 7. Are there differences in pay? How are these determined? 8. What is the management structure on the farm? If you have a problem, who do you talk to? Who deals with the problems on the farm? Work? Community? 58
[b] Domestic violence 9. Is domestic violence something that you notice on the farm? 10. What is the nature of the violence that happens? 11. Who is violent? 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.
What triggers the violence? What stops the violence? Do people turn to anyone for support? Who? What support services do you use? Health? What would need to happen in order to stop the violence? Is alcohol widely used? Does it have a connection to the violence – does it exacerbate the violence? Is this the case if both parties are drunk or only one?
[c] Development and Violence 18. What do you understand to be the purpose of the programmes occurring on the farm? 19. What do programmes shift? Conditions? Context? 20. Who participates in the programmes? 21. Reasons for ending participation in the programmes? 22. What are the consequences of participation? Is participation in programmes easy?
FARM MANAGEMENT 1. Are you aware of domestic violence incidences on the farm? 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
How often does this occur? What forms of domestic violence are you aware of? How is it addressed? Does management become involved? Are the police ever called in – who does that? Has anyone ever needed medical care? How does that happen? What other ways do the farm worker community deal with domestic violence? What do you think needs to happen in order to address the problem of domestic violence on the farm?
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