The Congress of South African Trade Unions in the North West is disappointed to hear that the Reboni Furniture Factory employers are only paying the sum of R20 000 as an admission of guilt fine for not complying with almost all the labour laws and the Occupational Health and Safety Act and treating workers like slaves.

“It is on record with the Department of Labour (DOL) that both Sun City and Reboni have not been complying, and that many of our members and other employees have lost fingers and some other parts of their body and that their health is in a bad condition due to poor conditions of work, including not being provided with protective clothes” Cosatu secretary-general Solly Phetoe said.

“We have been told that Sun City also paid some few rands and now that Reboni have paid R20 000, when the lives of those poor workers is doomed due to their conduct. This means that the employer will continue to undermine the laws of this country with the view that he is the master of the bank. He will pay any amount that the court may demand them to pay while workers are dying and losing their body parts.”

Cosatu said it is disappointing to hear that the DOL is celebrating this, when their members are killed, injured or made ill due to the poor conditions of work.

Phetoe said they call on the DOL to also go public about all employers that have been taken to court for not complying and tell the public the amount paid by those employers, in particular farmers where workers have lost lives and been disabled due to non-compliance.

He said it must also include the amount that Sun City paid as they were also part of the court case in Mogwase for not complying.

“We are totally not happy for those who celebrate the paying of R20 000 when our members are in pain for what the capitalists did to them. The DOL must represent the interest of both parties and make sure that everybody complies with the laws of this country” Phetoe outlines.

He said they have gone public on some of allegations that employers do not comply knowing very well that they will use their money to pay, yet they cannot pay workers’ salaries.

Cosatu said employers cannot even pay to improve the conditions of workers, and refusing the pay the medical expenses when workers are hospitalised.

Workers have opened cases against the same man to both the Mogwase police station and the DOL after workers were shot by live ammunition and rubber bullets and assaulted by the security staff from the same company, yet till today the case is nowhere; nothing has happened.

Some people are celebrating the payment of R20 000 when poor workers are treated in that manner and being dismissed for demanding their rights, says Cosatu.

“We must also be told publicly about the allegation that workers made against certain officials of the DOL during that strike and why there is no public report on them, as they and their friends continue to exploit workers”.

“We call on the DOL to respect workers and their families, those who lost their body parts and were injured in the some company and those who are traumatized due to that situation.
We are highly disappointed about the paying R20 000 at the expense of the lives of the poor workers” Phetoe said.
-TDN
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

Bloemfontein – Two people, one a minor, appeared in the Lindley Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday in connection with the hijacking and murder of a Bethlehem man.

“Elias Moeketsi Lichakane, 20, and a 17-year-old appeared and were denied bail,” said Free State police spokesperson Constable Sinah Mpakane.

The matter was postponed to 25 June for further investigation.

It relates to the murder of Thamsanqa Vumendlini, 48, who was a Democratic Alliance branch chairperson in Bohlokong at Bethlehem.

It was alleged Vumendlini was on his way from Senekal to Bethlehem when he stopped to give two people a lift on Friday, 6 June around 17:00.

On the way the two passengers apparently asked him to stop near Paul Roux. Vumendlini also stepped out of the vehicle and was attacked by his two passengers.

Police said he was stabbed with a knife and strangled with a chain.

He died on the scene.

The two accused were arrested in Arlington while driving Vumendlini’s vehicle.

SAPA

Cape Town – A Cape Town domestic worker had to be consoled on Wednesday after testifying how her employer’s boyfriend allegedly assaulted and swore at her.

Gloria Kente, 50, told Cape Town magistrate Alta le Roux what happened last June between herself and Andre van Deventer at the home they all shared in Table View.

Van Deventer is on trial on charges of common assault and crimen injuria.

She said she had asked Van Deventer to look after her employer’s child while she took a shower at the end of the workday.

While in the bathroom, she said she heard Van Deventer shouting that they were “paying this kaffir R2 400 to look after the child”.

Kente said she left the bathroom and asked him whether he was speaking about her, which he confirmed.

“Andre came to me whilst I was standing in my room door. He grabbed my pyjamas in front of my chest and said he hated a kaffir. Then he said ‘I hate you as well, Gloria’. Then he spitted [sic] in my face,” she said.

She was being cross-examined by Van Deventer’s lawyer, Henry van der Westhuizen, who questioned her version of events.

At lunch, Kente left the stand and sat with her head in her hands. A group of women consoled her.

After lunch, she continued to explain what happened after she was spat at.

“That’s when he mentioned that there are black people throwing kaka at the airport. We are not the ones who are going to be cleaning that. That’s when I broke loose from him and didn’t do anything at all.”

Kente demonstrated how she took her hands and forced Van Deventer’s grip loose by pushing back.

“He further mentioned that these kaffirs stole their land and he wishes that [the late statesman Nelson] Mandela died in hospital.”

Van der Westhuizen said her employer, Mariechin Pienaar, and Van Deventer would both testify to a different version that never included assault.

The lawyer said Pienaar would testify that Kente and her boyfriend had shouted at each other and she broke up the fight.

They would also testify that Kente had told Van Deventer: “You sleep with a black woman. You have black kids. Why are you saying these things to me?”

Pienaar would testify further that she went into Kente’s room afterwards to see if she was okay and had told her to ignore her boyfriend because he had been drinking.

Kente denied this version and said Pienaar had stayed in her bedroom instead of intervening and could thus not testify as to what she had seen.

Kente has also applied to the Equality Court in Cape Town for R100 000 in damages and an unconditional apology from Van Deventer.

The equality case was expected to be heard next month.

SAPA