TCOE continues to play a pivotal role in supporting farmworkers and farm dwellers across South Africa. Small-scale producers and farmers remain among the most marginalised groups in South Africa, particularly in rural and peri-urban areas where systemic neglect and dual governance structures deepen their exclusion. They face persistent challenges including insecure access to land, unreliable or inequitable water supply, frequent evictions, and exploitative labour conditions shaped by seasonal work and casualisation. These structural barriers not only undermine their livelihoods but also limit their ability to participate meaningfully in decision-making processes that affect their futures.

Through its movement building stream, TCOE works alongside a network of grassroots organisations to mobilise communities, advocate for land and water rights, promote agroecology, and engage in policy and legislative processes. These efforts are grounded in solidarity, participatory governance, and the belief that meaningful change must be built from below.

Key highlights of TCOE’s farmworker-focused movement building:

• CSAAWU (Commercial Stevedoring Agricultural and Allied Workers Union)
  Active in organising and recruiting farmworkers in areas such as De Doorns, Rawsonville and Vredenberg. CSAAWU challenges casualisation of labour and supports workers facing evictions and unfair practices.
  
  
• Sunday’s River Farmworker Forum
  Mobilises farmworkers and dwellers around land access, water rights and local governance issues in the Eastern Cape.
  
  
• Inyanda National Land Movement
  A national platform co-founded by TCOE that includes farmworker organisations. Inyanda campaigns for land reform, tenure security, and agrarian justice, and engages in national political education and climate justice advocacy.
  
  
• Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA)
  Works with women farmworkers and dwellers to build leadership, challenge patriarchy, and promote food sovereignty through agroecology and seed saving initiatives.
  
  
• Coastal Links Eastern Cape
  Although focused on fishers, this movement intersects with farmworker struggles through shared campaigns on land and water access.
  
  
• Rural Legal Centre (RLC)
  Provides legal support and documentation for farmworker evictions, labour rights violations and tenure insecurity.
  
  
• Cry of the Excluded Campaign
  Amplifies farmworker voices in national budget debates and social justice struggles, demanding inclusive planning and economic dignity.
  
  
• Agroecology and Food Sovereignty Initiatives
  Farmworkers are supported through agroecological hubs, seed banks and fresh produce markets, promoting sustainable livelihoods and alternatives to commercial agriculture.
  
  
• Policy and Legislative Engagement
  TCOE and its affiliates contribute to national policy processes, including submissions on seed laws, water rights and the National Agroecology Framework.

These collective efforts reflect TCOE’s commitment to building resilient movements that centre farmworkers as agents of change in the struggle for land, dignity and justice.

Some of the movements, associations and affiliates that TCOE works with include the Inyanda National Land Movement, the Sunday’s River Farmworker Forum, the Rural Legal Centre (RLC), the Cry of the Excluded campaign, the Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA), the Commercial Stevedoring Agricultural and Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU), Mopani Farmers Association (MPA), Makukhanye Land Rights Movement, Mawubuye Land Rights Movement, Ilizwi Lamafama, Coastal Links Eastern Cape, and the Botshabelo Unemployed Workers Movement (BUM).

These formations are central to TCOE’s collective efforts to mobilise farmworkers and rural communities around land access, water rights, agroecology, tenure security, and legislative engagement.