SOUTH AFRICA: Labour dept to inspect Limpopo’s farms

Limpopo – The Department of Labour is to conduct inspections on 325 farms in Limpopo to determine the level of compliance with labour laws.

“The focus of the inspections will be on all applicable labour laws regulating conditions of employment and the determination of the minimum wage with an objective of fostering sound labour relations in the sector,” the department said.
These include provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHSA) law and the Unemployment Insurance Act.

“Compliance with the law is not an option, we are determined to enforce the law and employers who are found to be contravening the law will be punished,” department spokesperson, Zolisa Sigabi warned.

The inspection comes after last week’s blitz conducted in several Limpopo farms, where department officials cracked down on illegal workers on farms and farmers who defaulted labour laws.

The joint operation which involved the police, labour inspectors, officials from the Department of Home Affairs and the Human Rights Commission also discovered that farmers unlawfully recruit and exploit illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe.

Some farmers were found to have flouted labour laws regulating the payment of overtime, excessive underpayment of workers and in one instance discovered violations of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).

Ms Sigabi said at the time that one crop farmer was found to be deducting money for the UIF from illegal workers but none of the contributions were ever handed over to the department as required by law.

Ms Sigabi said the department requires employers to register anyone who is working for them for 24 hours a month or more.

Failure to comply with the provision of the law constituted a punishable offence which could result in a fine or imprisonment, or even both.

"The crackdown would be intensified in the area until government was satisfied that illegal immigration and workplace exploitation were nipped in the bud," Ms Sigabi said at the time.

She said that inspectors found violations of worker rights, where workers are required to work up to ten hours per day, with wages as low as R107 per month.

In some farms in the Mopane area of Musina, scores of illegal immigrants who worked on the farms were arrested this week as they had no valid permits.

At the Delft tomato and maize farm in the area, officials arrested several illegal workers, who together with 51 local labourers worked seven days a week for monthly wages of between R330 and R1 200 each.

The employer, who was not at the workplace at the time, was also found to be flouting labour laws regulating overtime payment.

At a pepper and beans farm in the Mopane area, 50 illegal workers were found to be working nine hours per day from Monday to Friday for wages ranging between R107 and R900 per month.

However, officials could not access many other farms which were mostly locked up but officials have vowed to make follow-up inspections in those farms. - BuaNews