Amid growing hunger and homelessness, the plight of evicted farmworkers is deepening, especially when the agency that should be their last hope seems to offer none.

Tannie Sephia Kerneels cuts a forlorn figure outside the Robertson Magistrates' Court. Her body language tells the story of someone who is waiting without much hope.

She has been evicted from the farm cottage she has lived in for the past 27 years. Her expression and demeanour reflect the unfairness she expects from authority figures and officials.

The 52-year-old widowed mother of two owes more than a year's rent on the farmworker's cottage she lives in. She moved into the cottage 27 years ago when her husband, Abraham Kerneels, got a job on the farm, after which they both worked there.

Sephia Kerneels was widowed when her husband, while still employed on the farm, died on 13 June 2021. She was then working in the town. After her husband's death, she was allowed to remain in the cottage, but had to pay a monthly rent of R180, which steadily increased. In 2022 she was told she would have to move if she could not pay the rent.

By then, the rent had reached R400. She couldn't afford to pay it in addition to feeding three people and covering all other living expenses. Her 16-year-old son and 14-year-old grandchild live with...