An audio-drama commissioned by ILRIG (International Labour Research and Information Group) and produced by the BOTSOTSO arts collective with a cast drawn from CASAWU (the Commercial Stevedoring and Agricultural Workers Union) and RECLAIM THE CITY (a working-class inner city residents organization based in Cape Town).

This three-part drama deals with the general conditions affecting farmworkers in the Western Cape and focusses on the very low wages, poor benefits, insecure housing rights, persistent racism and widespread use of labour brokers and migrant labour to divide and weaken worker organization.

The first episode is largely a discussion between Mandla, the local union organiser, Roberta, the Zimbabwean-born shop steward chairperson of the branch, and Simon, a visiting British trade unionist. Their talk covers the general social and economic status of workers and the challenges they face with Simon constantly noting how many of the South African problems are the same faced by workers in Europe. The episode ends with Japhta September, a local worker at Lily White Farm, rushing in to inform them of his pending disciplinary enquiry on a charge of theft and sets the stage
for the second episode which is the disciplinary enquiry.

The key characters in the second episode are Hernus du Toit, the Afrikaner owner of the farm, Ms Neiman, a Coloured lawyer who is the chairperson of the enquiry, Siza Muntu, the farm foreman who is du Toit’s right hand man, Mandla, the trade union organiser, and Japhta and his wife, Salome.

The heated exchanges between the various characters during the course of the enquiry throw up the issues of victimization and racism as well as du Toit’s assumed right of ownership of the land.

In the last episode, we find out that Ms Neiman has dismissed Japhta notwithstanding strong evidence that he was innocent of theft. As a result, du Toit now moves to evict him and his family
from their house on the farm. Heated exchanges take place, and as the afternoon drags on, more and more workers arrive to show solidarity. Finally, when the police come on the scene, the number of workers has grown to a point that the Colonel in charge advises du Toit to back off and negotiate with the Septembers. And so, the drama ends with a victory of sorts and validates the slogan “Organize or Starve!”