TimesLIVE reports that cramped rooms, dirty toilets and showers, low salaries and a lack of "job appreciation" were among a multitude of concerns horse grooms raised at the Randjiesfontein racecourse in Midrand during a site inspection by the department of labour on Tuesday.  

Grooms at the facility sleep on steel beds with mattresses, in rooms which accommodate up to four people.  Some renovations have been done to four hostels, but other grooms still live in dire conditions.  Walter Sibande, who has been working at the racecourse for over eight years, and 49 others share four indoor toilets and four indoor showers at the grooms' hostels.  Sibande said there were no lights in the bathrooms and the dirty toilets had no lids.  There are also no shower heads and the bathroom doors are rundown.  The broken windows in some of the rooms are covered with newspaper, while rubbish lies littered next to the open gas stoves they use.  The labour department inspected at least three employers at the racecourse on Tuesday.  Each employer has about 18 employees.  Spokesperson Mishack Magakwe said employers were complying with the national minimum wage, but not with occupational health and safety standards.  Returns of earnings and payments in terms of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act were outstanding.  Employees were also not registered under the Unemployment Insurance Fund.  Contravention notices have been issued and the employers have 14 days to comply or face the full might of the law.

• Read the full original of the above report by Iavan Pijoos at TimesLIVE

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page