From the start, the Robert Broom Drive widening project presented more questions than answers. Disgruntled employees working on the project is just one of many on the list.

Also read: Robert Broom project: Just 700m but no light

On June 7 the News responded to reports of workers blocking Robert Broom Drive.

Colin Ramarola, one of the workers said they had not received their salary – a regular issue, he said. He had been working for the main contractor Ghika Construction Projects since 2018. He said they were promised that after working on the project for three months, the company would start contributing to their Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), but this allegedly never happened.

We get told that it is too expensive to print pay slips for us,” he said, and added that workers allegedly only received their December 2020 salaries in January.

When asked about the reasons they were given, he said their employer told them he was waiting for the Mogale City Local Municipality (MCLM) who was delaying payment.

Mabuti Mogethi who works for Lokwalo Construction, a sub-contractor of Ghika, said they also struggled to get paid. The reason they were given was that Ghika was delaying payment.

The workers told the News they have families to look after. Many of them live in Kagiso or Vlakfontein and travel long distances to get to work every day.

The News reached out to Ghika Construction, Lokwalo Construction and the MCLM for a response, but unfortunately no feedback was received from any of these entities.

The News asked Lokwalo how many of their employees were working on the project, what their payment arrangements with Ghika Construction were, and what was causing salary payments to be delayed.

The News asked Ghika Construction if they contributed towards their employees’ UIF, why workers said they didn’t get pay slips, why workers have been struggling to get their salaries, and what was causing salary payments to be delayed.

For the second time this year the News contacted the MCLM for clarity on this project. They were asked if MCLM was aware that they were being blamed for the delay in salary payments, and whether the contractor was paid on a monthly basis. If the latter was the case, what did they believe was causing workers’ salary payments to be delayed.

Two other questions to MCLM were about the size of the budget for this project, and what would MCLM suggest should be done to ensure employees are paid on time?

The News also asked whether it was a MCLM requirement that those awarded a tender have an obligation to do UIF payments on behalf of those working on the project.

Last December the News reported about Sebaka Ramaremela of the Mogale City Project Management Unit saying that the contractor had been cited for poor performance, and would continue under sanctions. There was a possibility that his contract with the municipality could be terminated and another contractor appointed. The question put to the MCML was, why was his contract not terminated if the work was not completed by the end February 2021?

Another question was how many projects had the MCLM already awarded to Ghika Constructions.

When the News checked in with workers on Wednesday, June 23, they said that only some workers had received payment. They said only four employees were working on the project and no machines were available any more.

Colin told the News that Ghika Constructions did not deserve to get another tender and that he was humiliating the youth.