Farm workers on strike over payment

More than 100 workers at the Tshakhuma Community Farm in Levubu went on strike two weeks ago to protest against the fact that they have not received their salaries for two months.

The workers gathered at the farm last Monday (9th) to raise their concerns about the monies still owed to them. The farm is being managed by the Madzivhandila royal family and produces bananas, avocados and macadamia nuts.

One of the employees, Mr Azwinndini Nkwamatumba, said that it was a bitter pill to swallow when he discovered that he had not been paid. “I then checked with my colleagues, only to realise that none of us had been paid,” he said. Nkwamatumba added that his family thought that he might have been paid and had misused the money.

The chairperson of the local farmers workers’ union, Mr John Kubayi, said that they had met several times with the management of the farm. “They told us that they would pay the workers on the 12th of October, but they failed to pay us. After the 12th, they told us that we would get our money after four days, but they also failed to fulfil that promise,” said Kubayi.

According to Kubayi, the management used the excuse that the company couldn’t make the payments because the bank account had been frozen. This apparently happened because some of the signatories had passed away but had not yet been replaced. “Our contract states that we will be paid on the last day of every month. We are working hard, but the management treats us as if we are beggars. We are not going back to work. We will only go back after they have paid us our money,” said Kubayi.

The manager of Tshakhuma Community Farm, Mr Adolph Madzivhandila, confirmed that workers had not been paid for September. The workers apparently embarked on a sit-in strike during October. He said this dispute would be referred to the CCMA. Madzivhandila admitted that the management had made several promises that had never materialised, but blamed this on prospective investors who had withdrawn support at the last hour.

Madzivhandila said that it was also true that there were two instalments of retrenched packages still outstanding. He said they were experiencing cash-flow constraints, some of which concerned FICA issues as far as bank accounts were concerned. Madzivhandila mentioned that documents needed to be amended by the Master of the High Court in Pretoria before any transactions could go through.

“We endeavour to have our employees paid on time,” he said and ascribed part of the current frustrations they had to deal with to aspects that accompanied the land-restitution processes.

Date:18 November 2015

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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