The salary dispute between the employees of the Masakona Farm, a community-managed farm in Levubu, and the managers of the farm is far from over.

The group that consist of more than a 100 labourers first went on strike at the end of February after the third month of non-payment. They marched to their employer, the Masakona Community Property Association (CPA), demanding an explanation after they had not received payment for December, January or February.

In the middle of February, they were promised that they would get double pay at the end of February. On the promised date, however, the workers only received an amount that was the equivalent of one month’s salary.

During the meeting that the farm workers had with the CPA members, the CPA chairperson, Mr Peter Mhawela, explained that the farm was still awaiting a R4.7 million grant from the government, as well as money outstanding from the South African Revenue Services (SARS). Other reasons that were given were the transplantation of banana trees on the farm, as well as a late avocado harvest.

The workers returned to work with the promise of the CPA that they would receive all their outstanding salaries. This was, however, not the case this week, with the workers only receiving R2 000.

“We don’t even know for which outstanding month this money is,” said one of the workers, who wished to remain anonymous. “It could be outstanding money, or it could be that we received a raise as a result of the new wage laws,” he added. The new minimum monthly wage for farm workers is R2 274.82 as from 1 March.

The Zoutpansberger / Limpopo Mirror has learned that, in the meantime, the farm workers have already scheduled a new meeting for this coming weekend to discuss their plan of action. “We are going to demand an investigation as to where the money is that the farm received from the government.”

The Masakona Farm forms part of several Levubu farms that were sold to the government’s Lands Claims Commission from 2000 to 2003 in a willing-seller-willing-buyer settlement. The farm itself is now managed by Sharp Move Trading CC, in conjunction with the CPA. The farm, however, still depends heavily on the government for funds to manage the various orchards on the farm.