Masakona farm workers demand better working conditions

Workers at the Masakona community-managed farm in Levubu downed tools this week while complaining about poor working conditions and the irregular payments of wages. On Monday, roughly 120 farm workers embarked on a strike in an effort to get the management to listen to their grievances.

Workers were demanding that the management increase their working time to nine hours a day. They also asked to be paid on the 25th of each month and demanded that security guards be paid when they worked during holidays and over weekends.

The striking farm workers claimed that supervisors were telling them that the project was making a lot of money. “We are told that we are making money for them,” said a security guard at the farm, Mr Gideon Mukwevho. Mukwevho said he had approached the Department of Labour several times, but they could not help him. “Our supervisors even told us that we were becoming too clever and that it would lead us to lose our jobs. The management forced us to work during the night without payment,” he said.  

He said they were surprised to hear that the management was still waiting for government funds. They were apparently also told that there was no farm owner. Some workers insisted that the guard supervisor did not have proper qualifications.

This was not the first time workers had gone on strike at the farm. During March last year, workers went on strike after spending three months without payment. The dispute was resolved after meeting the CPA and the HR manager.

Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU) shop steward Mr Gabriel Masakona said they started engaging the management in talks last Thursday, but it was fruitless. “They always tell us that there is not enough money. However, we (the workers) resolved that we will not go to work until they solve our problems,” he said. Masakona said there were unnecessary deductions from some workers' pay.

A 51-year-old mother of six from Ha-Njakanjhaka, Mrs Rose Rikhotso, said the current situation had hit her severely. “Two of my children are studying at the Vhembe FET College. Although they have a bursary, it is not enough. I should get money in time and it should be stable, so that I can look after all my children,” she said. She started working at the farm in 2006 and none of her children is working.

Ms Mangami Rikhotso (31) said that, instead of getting R105 a day, the management was giving them only R86. She said her four children were suffering. “This situation is bad; our families are suffering,” she said.

According to the workers the farm is owned by the Sharp Move Trading CC, in conjunction with the Masokona Communal Property Association. On Tuesday afternoon, the workers were still on strike and the management was nowhere to be found.

The HR manager at the farm, Mrs Emily Mashawana, told Limpopo Mirror that she was not aware of the strike and she was not in a position to talk to the media. “What I know is that we are still going to engage those workers (in talks),” she said.

Ms Angie Raulo, who was mentioned as a member of the Masakona CPA, insisted that she was not a member and said she could not speak to the press.

Date:21 February 2014

By: Phathutshedzo Luvhengo

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