Exploitation rife in Mandeni textile factories
The raid was held over three days as part of a national blitz and factories in Isithebe and the wider Mandeni area were inspected.
An inspection of textile and clothing businesses in Mandeni last week found widespread labour law violations and “sweatshop conditions”.
Department of Employment and Labour inspectors found a lack of proper employment contracts, fake co-operatives to skirt laws and in some cases, employees being paid less than a quarter of the minimum wage.
Photo: Department of Employment and Labour.
This aside from horrific working conditions, improper management of dangerous chemicals and illegal working hours.
The raid was held over three days as part of a national blitz and visited factories in Isithebe and the wider Mandeni area.
Inspectors were met by apparent “sweatshop conditions” and found just one factory that was fully compliant, while some closed shop when they heard inspectors were in the area.
Photo: Department of Employment and Labour.
“Workers have been subjected to pain for a long time. We are seeing an increase in cases of mental illnesses. We also want to pursue prosecution,” said the department’s inspector general, Aggy Moiloa.
Some workers said they sewed around 1 500 T-shirts a day, while earning less than R1 000 per month.
The lowest paid worker found was earning just R5.50 per hour, almost R20 shy of the national R25.42 minimum wage.
Moiloa said employers were “having a field day” without oversight and urged the department to sustain their pressure on the non-compliant businesses.
Photo: Department of Employment and Labour.
“If it means we have to deploy inspectors every week in Mandeni, we will do so,” she said.
“Mandeni and Newcastle have for a long time been problematic and we now need to act.”
Among the most common schemes to skirt labour laws was the fraudulent creation of co-operatives.
Photo: Department of Employment and Labour.
Co-operatives are exempt from UIF obligations and various other specific laws, so long as the members have equal say in what the co-operative does and share in the profits.
“In the so called co-operatives visited in Isithebe it was discovered that some employees had been falsely made to sign certain documents under the guise of being directors,” said department spokesperson, Petunia Lessing.
“Later, during the inspections, they, for the first time learnt that they were members of these co-operatives while they had never invested into or derived any dividends therefrom.”
Photo: Department of Employment and Labour.
Elsewhere, flouting of laws around fire safety, first aid, personal protective equipment, chemical handling, emergency exits and ablution facilities was commonplace.
Dangerous chemicals labelled only in a foreign language were found blocking the fire-fighting equipment at one factory.
The inspection paints a dire picture of working conditions in some corners of the iLembe district, typically thought of as problems in east Asian industries, not on our doorstep.
The department called on major South African retailers to investigate their suppliers and to report those found to be non-compliant.
In the meantime, offending employers were issued with compliance orders, while those that posed direct risk to employees received prohibition orders.
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