Cape Town - Lobby group Human Rights Watch has warned that housing rights for farm workers in the fruit and wine industries in the Western Cape are being abused.
The organisation presented the findings and recommendations of its research titled "Ripe with Abuse" to Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements on Wednesday.
Officials from the Department of Human Settlements were present during the deliberations.
The survey, carried out on 60 farms in the province and involving 206 interviewees, took place between September 2010 and May 2011.
In his presentation, the organisation's senior legal advisor Clive Baldwin claimed that some farm workers were living in "animal housing and in toilets".
He said others faced eviction, had no access to schools or clinics, were ignorant of their rights and were afraid of reprisals if they exposed their employers.
He called on the Department of Human Settlements to come up with a clear and coordinated policy to deal with the matter.
"Those who are homeless (on the farms) should have access to shelter," he said.
Baldwin commended South Africa for taking the lead in setting out the socio-economic rights of the people in its Constitution.
However, he said more focus should be put on setting and enforcing the minimum standards in areas such as housing and access to water.
The department's chief director of legal services, Advocate Jan Tladi, said the department had programmes to carter for farm workers.
He cited the Farm Worker Assistance Programme, saying it was meant to spell out the housing rights of farm workers.
He said Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale held consultations with farm worker unions about two years ago on the implementation of the programme.
Committee chairperson Nomhle Dambuza conceded that she and fellow MPs had not done enough to monitor the conditions on farms.
"There is a problem being experienced by farm workers. We must be honest; we haven't done much to oversee if the housing for farm workers is appropriate."
She said the report would help the committee in implementing its oversight role on farms, and that they planned to visit farms to check on the conditions
