‘Please don’t leave us’
● Desperate workers plead with Clover not to leave troubled Ditsobotla ● ‘My girlfriend is pregnant and I can’t afford to move to KZN with the firm’
Workers at a Clover plant in Lichtenburg, North West, have made a passionate plea to the company not to shut down the cheese factory.
Sowetan spoke to 10 employees who expressed fear for the future without jobs after the dairy firm announced its plans to relocate to KwaZulu-Natal due to service delivery failures by Ditsobotla municipality.
The workers must now relocate with the company or stay behind and face possible suffering.
Earlier this week, Clover announced it plans to move its cheese factory to Queensburgh in Durban after regular water and power outages made operations in Lichtenburg difficult.
The municipality has been experiencing a water supply crisis that dates back to more than five years, due in part to broken pressure pumps.
Rebecca Moletsane, 37, a general worker for 18 years at Clover, said having to choose to move or not was hitting her hard.
“I live in an RDP house with my husband and two children. There’s no way I can afford to go to KwaZulu-Natal and afford to pay rent with the salary that I am currently getting here,” said Moletsane, who lives in Shila Village, about 35km from the factory.
“If I stay in Lichtenburg, I will face unemployment and this is the company I was prepared to work for until I reach retirement age because I am what I am right now because of it,” Moletsane said.
Another employee, Papi Molefe, 31, who has been with the company for nine years, said he had already made up his mind that relocating to KwaZulu-Natal was not an option.
“I am not happy with the decision that Clover has taken as I who works in retail, is currently pregnant. relocate while taking home around R6,000? How will one afford to pay rent in Durban?” Molefe said.
Clover can’t’relocate. s reasons My girlfriend, for the “Can people really afford to Molefe is not convinced of planned relocation and says water and power cuts have never stopped production at their factory.
“Our company has drilled boreholes so we don’t have a problem with water and when there are power cuts, our generators kick in immediately,” Molefe said.
Clover SA declined to respond to Sowetan’s questions, saying they would not comment further on the matter.
The problem of poor infrastructure stands out in the town, which has potholes everywhere.
The road that connects the CBD and the factory was seemingly once tarred but due to years of poor maintenance, it has now become a bad gravel road. There is little sign of it having once been tarred.
Getting to the Clover factory is a mission even for big trucks and 4X4 vehicles, which have to slowly zigzag their way through puddles of water and thick mud due to recent rains.
Godfrey Seabelo, 37, who has worked at the factory for six years, told Sowetan that he is struggling to convince his wife to relocate.
“I have decided to relocate with the company but my wife is not convinced that my salary will be enough for us to afford a life in KwaZulu-Natal,” he said.
Seabelo said he feared becoming unemployed.
Locals describe the factory as a place that has given people in the area hope as there are others who are employed by several companies providing services to Clover, including cleaning and administration services. young Tebogo boy Mokgotsi, who didn 34,’ t proudly even said he “grew up” at the cheese factory.
“When I started I was a very have a beard, now I’m married with two children,” hesaid.
He has been working at the factory for 12 years. and said he had accepted that he needed to think of another plan.
‘‘ If I stay in Lichtenburg, I will face unemployment