Farmworkers lose jobs over low pay

“Sometimes we get paid R300 a month”

About 28 employees at a farm in Limpopo have been dismissed from work after complaining about low wages, poor working conditions and ill-treatment.

The workers at Fenco Boerdery farm near Vivo, northwest of Polokwane, were dismissed on Friday.

Some of them had been working on the farm for almost 40 years.

The potato-producing farmer allegedly had an agreement with his employees to pay them R121 each per day and most of them worked for 25 days a month.

The workers claimed they were not getting paid the full amount due to them, saying the farmer paid them R300 or R400 each a month.

They said he would tell them he did not have enough money or that he was putting the rest of their wages into savings for their retirement.

Elisa Dankuru, 50, from Marobyane village, started working at the farm 21 years ago. She has seven children.

“I have worked all my life on the farm and do not know how I’m going to support my family without a job,” she said.

“We grew tired of the way we were being paid. Sometimes we get paid R300 and another time R400 a month.

“When we raise issues with the employer we are told our monies are being contributed into some fund which will assist us when we retire but we have not been told where exactly the money goes to.”

Father of five, Peter Sebola, 44, said he had worked as a welder in the farm workshop.

“We start work at 5am and sometimes knock off at midnight but we are still expected to report for work at five the following morning. This is pure exploitation,” Sebola said.

“Now that we have been dismissed our families will suffer.”

He said no toilet facilities were provided for the workers, let alone protective clothing.

“Some time last year an elderly employee who started working at the farm in 1981 was bitten by a snake and the farmer refused to take him to hospital,” he said.

“We had to call an ambulance to come and fetch him and fortunately he survived.”

Sebola is also a shop steward at the farm.

The farm employs mostly residents of GaMachaba, Indermark and Marobyane villages.

A community leader in the area, Terror Mashabathakga, said they had been shocked to learn about the dismissals at the farm.

“We want the farmer to take back the workers with immediate effect,” he said.

“We are not going to tolerate a situation where Zimbabwean nationals are employed in place of our people.”

Attempts to get comment from the farm owner, who has been identified as Fanie van Jaarsveld, drew a blank as his mobile phone had been switched off.

Provincial department of labour spokeswoman Lerato Makomene said they would send inspectors to check what could have led to the dispute and subsequent dismissals of the farmworkers.

“We will await a report from our inspectors before taking any further action on the matter,” she said.

“However, we are worried that employees have been subjected to such low wages, if indeed it’s found to be true.”