R30 per day is borderline slave wage – Little to celebrate on Workers’ Day

There was an outcry from animal lovers about the acquittal of National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise on charges of animal cruelty

The Potchefstroom Magistrate’s Court accepted the defence argument that the neglect of the animals, which resulted in the deaths of many of them, was down to Modise’s manager.

While that may or may not be correct – that she can escape all blame entirely – the more shocking fact to emerge from the case was that the manager, Tebogo Mokaedi, was working for a pittance of just R30 a day …and that he had eventually left the farm – and the animals – because he had not been paid and he had no food. There was some bitter irony in the fact that Modise got off on the eve of Workers’ Day – given her flagrant abuse of a worker.

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Even though the cruelty allegations go back to 2014, Modise should hang her head in shame because R30 a day was still a borderline slave wage even years ago. It was interesting, too, that the usual suspects, like the Economic Freedom Fighters, did not storm the farm, or picket outside the court to protest the appalling treatment of a worker, as they no doubt would have done had the accused been a white farmer.

What the case did highlight, though, was that there was precious little to celebrate on Workers’ Day. Unemployment is at record levels – thanks to a combination of the effects of the Covid pandemic and the looting and incompetence by the ANC government and its deployed cadres which has all but crippled our economy.

While having a job makes you an elite of sorts, there have been ominous murmurings that unions bosses are about to launch our regular “strike season”.That will ultimately cost more jobs – and make Workers’ Day 2022 even grimmer.