IT firm leaves sub-contractors fuming over pay
Woman says they owe her company more than R2.6m
IT company Xuma Technologies is accused of exploiting sub-contractors who have completed work for them.
Nompumelelo Dobe, Phillip Ramazhamba and Agnes Ngakane approached Consumer Line for help after battling for the past two years to get payment for work done.
Ngakane, 51, of Randfontein, on the West Rand, said her company, What A Girl, installed fibre optic cables for MTN on behalf of Xuma Technologies in 2010.
She said signs that all was not well showed after Xuma terminated its one-year contract with her, while it allegedly tried to poach her employees for another project.
“They did not realise I was the engine [behind the projects], my employees could not perform without my supervision,” Ngakane said.
She said she should have learnt from this experience, but two years later she accepted another MTN project Xuma offered her. This time she was asked to fund it from her own pocket, with a promise that she would be paid R1.1-million plus the cost of labour on completion. While completing the project in Krugersdorp, she was given two other jobs, on Main Reef Road and Garsfontein in Pretoria, which she completed as agreed, but she was paid only R150 000 of the R2.7-million she billed Xuma. “Life has been tough ever since I completed these projects, I have a sick child who needs medication and am battling while [Xuma] is sitting with my money,” Ngakane said.
She said Xuma Technologies’ excuse had been that its clients – which included Dark Fiber Africa, Johannesburg Road Agency and MTN – had not paid and therefore it could not pay her.
This forced her to contact these institutions and she was shocked when they confirmed that they had paid Xuma for all the projects.
Meanwhile, Dobe of Olievenhoutbosch in Centurion was paid her R150 000 last Thursday after Consumer Line’s intervention since December last year. This despite Xuma’s CEO Nathi Nkosi denying he knew her at the time.
Nkosi later offered to give a comprehensive response outlining what transpired and why its contracts were not honoured. He instead deposited Dobe’s pay in full, and paid Ngakane only R100 000.
Ramazhamba was also paid his R213 700 invoice on Thursday, despite finishing his work in August 2015.
“I’m tired of these people, they must pay me my R2.6-million,” said Ngakane