Johannesburg - The Vrede Dairy Integrated Farm Trust employees have accused the board of harassing and intimidating them to prevent them from venting their frustrations about their working conditions.
This was after the board suspended two employees for sharing their frustrations about poor working conditions with the media. The employees, Lettie Mokoena and Amos Radebe, were suspended after their interview with news channel Newzroom Afrika on Monday fortnight.
The two employees told the broadcast channel that things had fallen apart since the beneficiaries were handed the project in January. They said they were demoted and forced to take salary cuts.
However, this candid revelation by the employees angered the board members of the Trust, who served them with letters of suspension following their interview with the news channel.
In the letters issued on June 29, the board members accused the two employees of bringing the trustees of the Trust into disrepute. They also accused them of leaving the company’s premises without the appropriate authorisation - to conduct their interview with the news channel.
The two employees attended a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday, July 5, and are waiting for the verdict from the board. Mokoena said this was an attempt to silence them. She said they had been subjected to poor working conditions, about which she believed the public should be informed.
“I think they are just trying to stop me from telling the public what is happening here. Things started to get worse when the project was handed to them in January. Everyone was demoted to general workers. Everyone was forced to take a salary cut, from managers to general workers. They also retrenched some of the workers,” said Mokoena.
Mokoena, a 31-year-old mother of one, a supervisor, said the dairy farm was managed well when it was under the controversial Gupta family, which left South Africa after the resignation of former South African president Jacob Zuma, their reputed ally, in November 2018.
She said she was earning R11 990 a month, and it was reduced to R3 000 a month.
Mokoena said she has been struggling to make ends meet since her salary was reduced and that her 14-year-old son was expelled from school for failing to attend his classes.
“After my salary was cut, I couldn’t afford to pay for transport for my son to go to school. He was expelled after failing to attend for two weeks.”
Radebe said he became a target because he openly opposes salary cuts and poor working conditions. He added that the reason for his suspension was telling the truth to the media. Radebe, a general worker, also said their working conditions were better under the Guptas.
Radebe said his salary was reduced from R4 700 to R2 900. He added that life has become more difficult since the project was taken away from the Guptas.
Another employee, who spoke anonymously, echoed the sentiments that working conditions worsened under the management of the Trust and added that some employees were fired without prior notice.
“They even cut our salaries, which is painful. It’s even worse because we are no longer getting paid for the weekends and overtime. Even in December (2021), we didn’t get our bonuses, and we used to get everything under the Guptas. It is difficult now, and my life cover insurance has lapsed. Things are no longer the same. I used to get more than R6 000 on a good month,” she said.
The dairy farm project started in 2012 as a partnership between the Free State provincial government and Gupta-linked company, Estina. At the time, the plan was for Estina and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in the province to inject an R500 million investment into the project and uplift the residents by creating 150 jobs and benefiting black farmers.
The farm made headlines and became a symbol of state capture after the Guptas and their associates allegedly siphoned millions of the project funds. By the time the project was cancelled in 2014, R280 million had already been invested by the provincial government.
In his state capture report, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo recommended that several government officials in the province, including former premier Ace Magashule and former agriculture MEC Mosebenzi Zwane, be investigated for their roles in the project.
On January 14, 2022, Free State premier Sisi Ntombela handed over the project to 65 community members who were named beneficiaries in the project. The beneficiaries own a 51% stake on the farm, while the remaining 49% would be open to strategic partners yet to be identified.
In reply to a request for comment, Ntombela’s office referred questions to the Free State provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The department spokesperson Zimasa Mbewu said the department has nothing to do with how the beneficiaries manage the company.
Mbewu added that the department was not privy to the information that has informed the decision on why employees have been subjected to pay cuts.
“The trust took the decision, and the reason could have been a pure business decision, as the entity has now to run as a business,” Mbewu said.
She said the department could not be drawn into the suspended employee’s issue as it was not part of the decision taken.
“Day-to-day business operations on the farm are the sole responsibility of the Trust since the project handover to the Trust. They don’t report who they suspend and the reasons to the department.”
Vrede Integrated Farming Trust board chairperson, Ephraim Dhlamini, said the employees were doing as they pleased and that the Trust could no longer tolerate their behaviour. He said they had to cut the salaries because their profit was insufficient to sustain the salary bill.
Asked if this was a permanent or temporary solution, Dhlamini refused to comment and said he could not discuss the matter with the media.