The oversight visit was conducted by the Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour, and the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform from Friday. The visit came after various stakeholders informed the committee that the reality of agricultural work is a harsh one. The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour, Lindelwa Dunjwa, explained the oversight visit is also due to the motion that was raised in the National Assembly in 2020, which recommended that both committees must embark on nationwide oversight visits to farms to assess the plight of farm workers across all provinces.

The farming sector in the Free State province happens to be dominated by males, and the provincial department of Agriculture is looking into ways they can get more females into the sector. The departmental spokesperson, Zimasa Mbewu, tells OFM News that inequality is one of the challenges they have come across when assisting young farmers’ businesses. One of the ways the department will balance the inequality is through the department's programme, Youth In Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. Mbewu further explains that the department will offer assistance to females that have an interest in farming.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa made more than R2 million this past Saturday from the Ankole auction that was held at his Phala Phala farm in Limpopo. According to News24, the auction was hosted by the Ankole Cattle Breeders' Society of South Africa, and it offered six lots from Ramaphosa's Ntaba Nyoni Ankole stud, including one bull, three females, and two lots of embryos. The society’s Jacques Malan told eNCA that they made double the amount of money they made from the previous auction.

OFM News