Jason Felix
LIFE should have improved for De Doorns farmworker Jenny Lottering after her daily wage almost doubled, but she is as strapped for cash as ever.
She used to earn R57 a day. She now gets R105 a day after a minimum wage increase by the government, but a new hike in utility services by farmers means she goes home with as little as R500 for two weeks’ work.
“I pay R100 for electricity and R75 rent every two weeks. If you have to go to the doctor you have pay your own way. Before the increase we earned R57 per day. Our medical aid was R210 per fortnight and we only paid it when we had to see a doctor. We paid R57 a fortnight on rent and there was no electricity cost,” she said.
“I simply don’t see the increase we fought for for so long.”
While workers say they are dissatisfied by this, there is no new strike on the cards as they cannot afford to lose income again for an extended period.
The Cape Times spoke to farmworkers on four farms in De Doorns who showed their current and previous pay slips showing how farmers increased their deductions.
A Tavistock farmworker, Jakob Peterson, said before the new minimum daily wage the electricity was R100 a fortnight per household.
Peterson’s electricity increased by R40. “The R105 is just another myth because the farmer pays us per hour and pushes up the electricity. We walk away with away about R450 to R600 every two weeks.”
Before the increase, he would live on R583 a fortnight.
Frans Booysen, a farmworker on the Vendutiekraal Farm just off the N1, earns between R400 and R450 a week.
“While we were still earning R69 per day, we paid R50 for electricity and we received R100 units and our rent was R34.50.
“Now, with the new minimum wage, our expenses have increased and the farmer only pays for hours worked. We might as well go back to earning R69 a day.”
Booysen said: “There are times when I cannot buy electricity because my income is too little. I then have to make fires to cook food.
“I am forced to pay rent for a Wendy house with no proper flooring and a toilet that is a health risk for me and my children.”
The Cape Times inspected his portable toilet and found raw faeces in it. He said the toilet has not been cleaned in months.
Agri-Wes Cape spokeswoman Porchia Adams, however, said farmers were faced with a 65 percent increase in labour costs and have had to recoup the increased cost.
“The farmers had a financial pinch and had to find ways of making up for the high salary that was handed down on them. The increase in utility services is a way of making up for the R105.
Efforts to contact management on Da la Hey Valleisig and Vendutiekraal farms failed.
Tavistock Farm human resources manager Wynand Viljoen said: “The minimum wage is R11. 67 per hour for a nine-hour working day, which amounts to R105. All workers are paid per hour and if they come in late or do not pitch up for work, they won’t be paid. The wage increase was sudden and high and we had to place some of the costs on the workers.”
MEC for Agriculture Gerrit van Rensburg said he supports the move by most farmers to increase utility services. “You have to understand that the farmers’ financial books have to balance. As long as their conduct is within the law, I have no problem with it.”
He urged farmworkers who have problems on farms to report them to the provincial government’s complaints hotline at 08600 142 142.