Dept Agriculture workers demand camping allowance

Workers in the Animal Health section of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development claim that their employer has informed them that it has no camping allowance despite regulations stipulating the pay-out thereof.
This after a query about such allowances from the section’s workers who live in camps along the borders of Zimbabwe and Botswana and have to spend hundreds of Rand to get to their homes and live in sometimes dire conditions without drinking water. These workers have to provide their own food and sometimes have to travel a distance to buy foodstuff. Some are lucky in the sense that they can collect water from the river, while others have to buy water for drinking and cooking and washing.
Departmental Spokesperson Selby Makgotho said camping allowances alluded to in the areas where these employees work fall under the control of the national Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Daff).
The affected workers are now turning to the media in a last resort to get the department to pay them the camping allowance they are entitled to.
An employee said he uses his own vehicle to drive to the camp and back home, yet he and his colleagues are not compensated for the kilometres nor do they get a camping allowance.
“I am currently situated at a camp some 102 km from my office, which is in Musina. I have to spend R800 of my salary to get to work and go home on weekends. Some of my co-workers stay in Venda or in the Blouberg municipal area. We can go to the river to collect 25 litres of water, but at some camps they have to buy their own water. I started working in 1999, when the camping allowance was instituted, but never received the allowance. In 2013 we were promised that we will be getting the allowance and the department asked Treasury for R33 million to pay us our backdated allowances. We received allowances for three months, from May to August last year, and then it was stopped without any explanation. We have not been paid any allowance since. Attempts to negotiate so far has not been successful. The department told us to go to our unions.”
A source within the Department of Public Service and Administration referred Polokwane Observer to Resolution 3 of 1999 on the department’s web site stating any person who is required to overnight away from his/her home in a camp and is not accomodated in a hotel or with friends or family, is entitled to a camping allowance, which as from 1 April 2016 amounted to a maximum of R139.50 per day. Should such a person drive to the camp in his/her own vehicle, the state should compensate the employee according to tariffs prescribed by the Department of Transport.
“Anybody whose work requires them to stay in camps is entitled to a camping allowance. It does not depend on the kilometres away from home, that specification is not documented anywhere,” the source said.”If people are using government transport to reach the camp, they cannot claim a kilometre allowance, but using private transport to get to the camp from their home and back, they can claim the prescribed tariffs or the employer may provide an allowance to cover reasonable actual costs.”
According to the resolution camping allowances are adjusted annually. Where camping staff work away from headquarters on a regular and continuous basis, the employer may pay a fixed monthly amount to compensate them for accommodation costs, according to the resolution. According to the circular sent to departments about the new tariffs from April 2016, each department must budget for its own employees’ camping allowance.
Makgotho said the query has been referred to Daff and the department will revert back as soon as they have received feedback from Daff’s Spokesperson.

Story: NELIE ERASMUS
>>nelie.observer@gmail.com