More than 100 construction workers of Tshiamiso Trading 135, who are busy with the installation of water pipes in villages such as Tshilaphala, Mudziafera and Tshitungulwane in Vuwani, are still on strike. They demand to be properly registered with the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), so that they can also be eligible for Covid-19 relief funding.
The workers vowed not to go to work until such time as their demands were met. They also accuse the Vhembe District Municipality of ignoring them and not mediating in the dispute.
"We went to the district municipality last Friday and were addressed by Mr Tshifhiwa Masakona, representing the executive mayor, Dowelani Nenguda. He promised to attend to our request, but nothing has come of it. We will not go to work until our demands are met because we are entitled to get government relief funds," said the group leader, Makungo Mathavhana.
He said that they were informed of the project to install pipelines in 2019. The project was supposed to empower rural, unemployed young people with temporary jobs during its construction phase. They welcomed the project as many young people were without jobs.
"About 170 young people from villages such as Mudziafera, Tshitungulwane and Tshilaphala were employed and things were going well, until the beginning of the lockdown in March. We no longer worked for 22 days (per month), but instead our bosses called us for only six days a month. We are also worried that, since we were not registered with the Department of Labour, it will be difficult for us to get UIF funds," said Mathavhana.
According to Mathavhana, their bosses at Tshiamiso 135 paid them a small amount of money on 2 August and vanished. "We tried to call them, but they don't answer our calls," he said.
"We then decided to down tools and not do any jobs for the company until we are paid all the Covid-19 money due to us. We have stopped with the building of the steel water reservoir and we don't want any worker going to work," added Mathavhana.
A memorandum was handed over to the technical service manager of Vhembe District Municipality (VDM), Mr Tshifhiwa Masakona, last week, asking them to intervene as Tshiamiso Trading 135 was contracted by VDM.
One of the directors of Tshiamiso 135, Mr Sam Kaputa, said that workers had to be patient as they had forwarded their names to the Department of Labour. They were hopeful that the UIF payments would be done soon.