Malema’s right about Indian employers
JULIUS Malema is absolutely right, there is definitely mass exploitation of workers in this country. There are so many labour organisations and labour departments but they are just a waste of taxpayers’ money.
They don’t seem to serve any purpose. Labour inspectors seem to sit in airconditioned offices instead of visiting work places and interviewing workers on a daily basis. I worked in three different companies, on a contract and casual basis after being retrenched after 20 years, and witnessed such exploitation first-hand.
The biggest culprits are transport companies, clothing manufacturers, wholesalers, supermarkets and take-aways that are mostly Indian owned. There are plenty of foreigners employed in these businesses who are not registered and not paid what’s due. These foreigners are threatened with deportation if they complain. Company bosses employ more foreigners than locals, so that local workers do not make up numbers for union membership. Foreign unregistered workers are trained to do specific work in clothing factories.
If local workers go on strike, the business continues unaffected behind closed doors. Foreign unregistered truck drivers, employed by transport companies, work 24/7 non-stop due to low pay. Some even sleep in company yards and trucks to avoid the police. Local truck drivers who complain of low wages and conditions are dismissed.
In one construction company that I worked for as a driver, the boss is a multimillionaire, has 13 houses, two Mercedes vehicles, one BMW, three vans, one truck, three maids and pays all his construction workers, who are bricklayers, plasterers, and painters, the same rate – which is R120 a day from Monday to Saturday. There is no overtime when they work late. Unfortunately for them, they are all unregistered and foreigners.
In one clothing factory in Durban that manufactures top-end clothing for major chain stores, there were 28 unregistered foreigners employed. One day four officials from the Department of Labour visited the company office; those foreign workers were made to disappear through a back door undetected. This business was Indian owned.
There are plenty of businesses that operate that way and flout labour laws.
MEC Ravi Pillay and those few Indian businesses that obey the labour laws and fair business practices will be angry with Julius Malema but that is the truth and it’s happening. It is through these rotten business practices, among Indian businessmen, that all Indians get tarred with the same brush.
I speak fluent Zulu, and heard the overtures they made to each another on numerous occasions about working for Indians, and it’s not good.
I personally have many black friends who work for Indians; even they complain about bad treatment by Indians.
Prominent, respected, intellectual and reputable Indian leaders must address this situation before it becomes a crisis.
DHAVEN NAIDOO
Woodhurst