GroundUp reports that on Tuesday, teachers and learners were locked out of Philani Primary School in Imbali, Pietermaritzburg, by disgruntled local workers who said they had not been paid for January.
The workers are from a number of subcontractors employed by a company called Phamodia on an R8.9-million asbestos removal project that started in December 2019. The project is for six months. Philani Shange, a subcontractor, said the company had promised workers that they would be paid on the last day of each month. “The subcontractors are working without any signed documents or appointment letters. They have been promising to bring the papers but they haven’t… When we ask, they promise to bring the papers. We are just working and that is worrying,” said Shange. “Seeing that we were not taken seriously, we closed the school,” said a female worker who is employed as a painter. She also complained that they have not received the materials needed to do the job properly. Coordinator of the project, Tshepo Moetshu, said the workers would be paid on Friday. He claimed they were awaiting a payment from the Development Bank of South Africa.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nompendulo Ngubane at GroundUp
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