The Rep 1 March 2019

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THE REPRESENTATIVE 1 March 2019
DRDLR pumps in R15m to assist local wine production
ANDISA BONANI
The Department of Rural
Development and Land Reform
(DRDLR) has committed R15m to
the Mayime Winery co-operative
at the Shiloh Irrigation Scheme for
the construction of their own wine
c e l l a r.
This was stated by Chris Hani
District Municipality (CHDM)
mayor Kholiswa Vimbayo during
the third harvest of grapes since
2016, when 3 800 bottles of wine
were produced.
Mayime is the producer of the
Inkosi wine currently sold at the
Komani Pick ‘n Pay store and is
funded by the Chris Hani District
Agency (CHDA).
Vimbayo said the municipality
was also in talks with the
Department of Rural Development
and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR) to
increase the hectares of land on
which the grapes are planted.
“We started harvesting here
around 5am today because under
normal circumstances the
harvested grapes need to be
Union fights staff’s dismissal
ABONGILE SOLUNDWANA
The Food and Allied Workers
Union (Fawu) is determined to
win the CCMA case of the 30
employees fired by Meat Traders
Abattoir for an alleged go-slow
strike recently, Fawu’s provincial
organiser, Sithembele Kilani, said.
Kilani said the strike allegations
were untrue and came about as a
way of avoiding implementation of
the national minimum wage bill.
“This started in January, when
the wage bill came into effect.
Prior to that Meat Traders had
committed to Fawu that it would
comply with the minimum wage
implementation for its employees,”
he said.
The union was surprised to
learn that the company had
changed the pay dates from
employees receiving their salaries
on the 25th of every month to a
fortnightly payment system.
He said a meeting followed
REF NO:
WINE MAKING: The Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality
(EMLM) chief whip Bongiwe van Heerden, Mayime
co-operative chairman Selbourne Cecane and CHDM mayor
Kholiswa Vimbayo helped harvest grapes at the Mayime
Winery co-operative last Thursday Picture: ANDISA BONANI
squeezed within four hours. In our
case, all the grapes we harvested
today will be transported by truck
to Cape Town by 9am. This is one
of the reasons we feel we need
own wine cellar so we can make
the wine here and save shipping
between Fawu and the abattoir
team when the union had stated
that employees were satisfied with
receiving their money on the 25th.
However, the company insisted on
fortnightly payment, Kilani said.
“Fawu disagreed with the
reduction of workers’ salaries
because the employer had
committed to honour the minimum
wage payment bill. The company
also cut the working hours, saying
workers should go home after they
had finished slaughtering the
animals for the day. This meant
they were only paid for four to five
hours a day and their salaries had
been reduced to less than they
received last year.”
He said employees had
previously worked from 7am till
5pm. “Meat Traders breached the
act which stipulates that no
working changes should be
implemented without alerting the
union first.
“We want the workers to serve
c o st s . ”
The chairman of Mayine,
Selbourne Cecane, said after the
massive 2016 production of 3 800
bottles of wine, they improved in
the second harvest in 2017 by
producing 12 000 bottles.
for eight hours a day. Before, the
company used to have work for
the employees to do to work
longer hours and they should
continue.
“Some private companies are
lagging behind when it comes to
implementing the labour laws. The
minimum wage law does not state
that companies should decrease
salaries. These are tough
economic times and laying off 30
employees means many
households lose their
breadwinners.”
He said the company had
already introduced new staff to
replace the former employees.
He said the CCMA case was
scheduled for March 15. A former
worker, Lubabalo Hokolo, said: “I
have been working here for 13
years. I had given my all to the job
and now we have been thrown out.
I cannot support my needs.”
Meat Traders Abattoir owner
Jack Miles said firing the
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“This year we will produce a
greater quantity of Inkosi wine
than the previous harvest because
we did not have much rain, which
negatively affects the produce.
Rain affects the amount of sugar
in the grapes and the lack of it
makes for 100% sugar in them.
“We hope by next year we will
have our own wine cellar.
Engineers have already been here
to view the place which made us
even more hopeful. The cellar will
help create more jobs for young
people who live in Hewu. We
currently employ 30 people full
time and during the harvest
season we increase employment
by a further 100 temporary jobs.
Having the wine cellar would see
more people from this area being
employed on a full-time basis
because we would need cleaners
and people to help with bottling
and other tasks.”
Cecane said he hoped DRDAR
would assist them by enlarging
the land on which they operate
from the current 14ha to 100ha to
increase the production of Inkosi
wine.
employees was not his wish.
“I understand that most people
were breadwinners. We warned
them and pleaded with them to
stop the go-slow, but after three
days of pleading they refused to
st o p . ”
He said the strike cost the
company greatly.
“We were thinking of closing
the company, but we had to
consider the 40 employees who
are still at work. I have replaced
the (30 fired) staff and the new
staff is performing better than the
dismissed one.”
Miles said the company
followed the law before dismissing
the employees.
“I do not know what led to the
staff being disgruntled and
embark on a go-slow. I believe it
could have been avoided. We tried
everything in our power to get
them to go back to work. I am
sorry this had to happen.”
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22 March 2019,
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Teacher in trouble for
‘smacking’ a pupil
ABONGILE SOLUNDWANA
The Chris Hani District West education
department is investigating an
incident in which a six-year-old pupil
was allegedly beaten by a teacher at
Lower Didimala Primary School
recently, department spokesperson,
Malibongwe Mtima says.
The grade 2 pupil from Whittlesea
sustained an injury to his gum and
three molars were damaged in the
alleged incident.
Due to the seriousness of the case,
the SGB held a meeting with the
teachers and resolved to forward it to
the district office to investigate.
The child’s parent, who wants the
teacher dismissed, said: “The
principal asked me to sympathise with
the teacher because it could mean
she would lose her livelihood.
“She said the community would
view her as a principal who had the
teacher fired and it would tarnish the
image of the school.”
The mother said her son’s face was
swollen as a result of the alleged
beating and there were even finger
marks which were spotted by his
grandmother, with whom he lived.
“My mother said my son became
anxious when she asked him what
had happened and eventually said his
teacher had beaten him.
“The next day my mother told him
he must stay out of school as he
should be taken to a doctor, but he
became terrified and insisted on
Theft of sheep thwarted
In the early hours of last Tuesday Red
Guard response officers in Lady Frere
attended to a panic signal from a
supermarket, operations manager
Willie Reinecke told The Rep.
They apprehended a suspect who
had broken in and handed him over to
the police.
Response officers in Komani
attended to a panic alarm at a recycling
business. There they chased after a
suspect who had stabbed a customer
on site with a knife. They apprehended
the suspect and he was handed over to
the police.
On Thursday the security officers on
duty at a supermarket in Komani
apprehended a suspect who was
identified as the person who stole a
staff member’s cell phone the previous
week. The suspect was handed over to
the police.
Response officers attended to a
panic alarm at a business site in
Queendustria and the security officer
on duty reported that he had seen
suspects stealing scrap metal. The
officers apprehended two suspects with
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going to school as he feared the
t e a c h e r. ”
The doctor apparently had to
extract one tooth, but the others could
not be removed because his face was
too swollen.
Last week the grandmother was
called to fetch the child from school
because he had a headache.
“When my mother took him to
school and went to the principal’s
office to discuss this she was told the
school would deal with the teacher
and feedback would be given to her.
“When my mother returned to the
school, the principal said the teacher
was sorry about the incident.”
Her mother told her about it over
the phone, and she had to travel from
Johannesburg to attend to the matter.
The mother said this was not the
first time this teacher had terrorised
pupils.
“She used to be my teacher and
she was very harsh. She slapped my
sister and as a result she ended up
repeating the grade. She is
short-tempered. The principal said she
had admitted to slapping the child.
“She is sorry! What about the
wellbeing of my child? They want my
child to change class, but he will
remain terrified because he will be
exposed to the teacher. They said they
would consider getting a transfer for
my child to another school, but what
about the other children?”
Police spokeswoman captain
Namhla Mdleleni said a case of
common assault had been opened.
wheelbarrows full of scrap which was
taken back to the site and the suspects
released after the manager declined to
open a criminal case.
On Friday a farm owner called the
company’s 24-hour control room in the
early hours of the morning and
reported that suspects were stealing.
Response officers were dispatched to
the farm where they chased after the
suspects’ vehicle. They apprehended
one suspect at Lesseyton driving a
vehicle containing 10 stolen sheep. The
matter was handed over to the police.
The same day a response officer
reported that a vehicle had nearly
collided with his while making a U-turn
in front of him in Cathcart Road. He
noticed two women jumping out of the
vehicle and he stopped and rendered
assistance. The women said they had
been kidnapped and were very
traumatised, so they were referred to
the police station.
Later response officers noticed the
vehicle in question at a local garage so
the police were called and the matter
handed over to them.
TUESDAY
12 MARCH 2019
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