CONTINUITY AND CHANGE Follow-up Inquiry into the progress of

Labour relations between farmers and farm workers in the agricultural sector have always been unique. In the first instance, historically, the class of black and coloured farm workers in South Africa were deliberately created by the segregationist and apartheid regimes as a marginalised and super exploitable labour force.1 Secondly, as a result of being historically excluded from the formal labour relations machinery until the 1990’s, farmers developed their own labour relations system akin to their particular circumstances. Thirdly, this unique system evolved into social relations of production which was, and still is, based on strong bonds of paternalism. Some have argued that the paternalist employment relationship typifies a total institution in which they live as a community but one in which the farmer has extensive control over virtually every aspect of the farm worker’s life. Others have argued that even though paternalism masked unequal power relationships, one needs to look deeper into the meanings and interpretations that both farmers and farm workers have attached to their system of social relations. There is an element of truth to all of these but the evolution of the agricultural sector after 1994 as a result of market deregulation, land reform and the formalisation of labour relations have altered the paternalist discourse in significant and contradictory ways. Although the policy objectives around these legislative changes are laudable, it can be argued tha