LONG WAIT FOR R2m PAYOUT
LIFE has not been easy for North West farm workers who were fired over a decade ago for demanding a living wage.
Residents of Sterkstroom, a farming settlement in Ventersdorp, are struggling to make ends meet.
In 2003, 181 workers were fired for going on a three-day strike demanding salary increases. They then took their case to Labour Court, citing unfair dismissal.
In a court order dated September 15 2004, their dismissal was declared automatically unfair.
Wilco van der Schyff, their employer, was then ordered to pay R2-million as compensation to 124 of the dismissed workers. They thought with the compensation, they would start new lives and build their children decent homes.
Now 13 years on, they have not received what is due to them.
They say there is nothing they can do because it seems their employer is more powerful than the country’s judiciary.
Van der Schyff had also told them to vacate the cottages inside the farm but they refused, insisting they will only leave after they are paid.
“The court ordered him to pay us but nothing is happening, some of the beneficiaries are dead now. We are wondering if Wilco is mightier than the country’s law,” said one of the workers Solomon Modisane.
Modisane worked as a machine operator for 10 years.
“It is now difficult to raise my two children. I want to know what happened to our money,” he said.
Wilco van der Schyff Boerdery farm manager Sanet Schutte said she knew about the matter but did not have relevant information.
“We were not working here at the time, I know there was something going on but I cannot speak on behalf of my boss,” she said, adding he has since relocated to Australia.
Hannes Otto, the sheriff who was supposed to attach Van der Schyff Boerdery’s goods, said he was just waiting for a court order.