The New Age reports that the abuse of undocumented farm workers is still rife in Limpopo – with workers getting paid between R60 and R80 a day instead of the gazetted R103 minimum daily wage.  

Most of these workers hail from Zimbabwe and Mozambique.  Thembani Ndlovu from Zimbabwe said working conditions were bad in that they worked long hours and didn’t get proper time to rest from their labour.  Ndlovu has been working since 2008, but said it was hard to apply for a passport since he did not have the relevant papers, which made it easy for farmers to abuse him and other workers, knowing very well that they would not report them for of fear of being deported.  Last year 80 undocumented farm workers from Zimbabwe were left stranded outside a police station in Lephalale after they were fired and evicted by their employer over a demand for better pay.

• Read this report in full at The New Age

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