Grooms complain of poor wages

WITH the horse-racing industry facing a possible inquiry, grooms have told of poor working conditions and the hazards they face at their workplaces.

Simphiwe Ntusi, 38, is considered the leader of the grooms at the Summerveld stables near Hillcrest. He said there were many problems affecting them.

“The first issue would be that our salaries are low. Some of us are getting paid as little as R1 000 a fortnight,” he said.

Ntusi said others were paid as little as R800 for a fortnight’s work.

Ntusi, originally from Flagstaff in the Eastern Cape, said they often raised horses from the time they were born. But because of the nature of the business they worked in, grooms often sustained injur- ies, which included broken bones. If a groom was injured, he would get paid for three months and if he had not recovered after that period, he would be “released”.

Ntusi, a father of one, said there had been little change in the 15 years he had worked in the industry.

He said their living quarters were poor. “If there are four of you living in one room and one person gets tuberculosis, then you have problems.”

Ntusi said there were about 750 people living in the staff quarters at Summerveld.

Michel Nairac, the chief executive of Gold Circle, said he was surprised to hear that grooms had issues with their employment conditions.

Nairac said Gold Circle had strict lease agreements with trainers who leased their premises.

He said if any aspect of the lease agreement, which included strict adherence to the Labour Relations Act, was broken, Gold Circle would quickly act on it.

‘Blatant lie’

Nairac said he was not aware of the report that was set to be handed by the Department of Labour to Parliament.

He said Gold Circle had not received any complaints from grooms over the past few years.

Tony Rivalland, spokesperson for the KwaZulu-Natal Trainers’ Association, said it was “a blatant lie” that grooms were receiving poor salaries.

“There is not one groom I know of who only earns R2 000. If there is, I will give them R2 000 for free,” he said.

Rivalland said they aligned themselves strictly with working conditions set by the agricultural sector, which they fall under, and that most grooms were members of unions.

He said he was unaware of where the allegations came from. “It is categorically false,” Rivalland said.

He said the allegations were “nothing new” and had been made for the past 10 years – normally near the time of the Durban July.

The reason behind this year’s complaints was possibly because of a strike that happened in Gauteng, he said.

For Rivalland, KZN “probably” had the highest compliance with the Labour Relations Act.