SowetanLive reports that some 40 Gauteng persons are starving and trapped in the Western Cape with no money to return home after working for three months without pay.  

They were recruited by A Tracker to install energy-saving LED lights at Shoprite stores in August.  The workers have since lodged a complaint with the Department of Labour against Abram Dube, who owns A Tracker.  This was after they worked at the retail outlets in different parts of the province, including Paarl and Vredenburg.  A letter of appointment stated that each worker would earn about R8,000 monthly for installing 40 LED lights a day.  But the workers were never paid and survived by sharing food and getting handouts from sympathetic locals.  Siphiwe Khumalo, who is still in Vredenburg, said some people managed to get money to travel home to Gauteng, but others were still trapped there.  A letter from the Department of Labour shows that the complaint laid by the workers was referred to the Boksburg labour centre in Ekurhuleni for investigation.  The Shoprite Group confirmed it was working on a large LED retrofit rollout project.  But they had no direct link to the hiring of staff for the project as it was managed by Kedah Synergy Corporation, which had subcontracted Dube's company.  On Sunday, Dube claimed the company had managed to secure some funding to cover operational expenses and salaries until October.

• Read the full original of the report by Zoë Mahopo at SowetanLive

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