Hazyview lodge staff demand minimum wage

Some of the staff of Kruger Adventure Lodge in Hazyview have embarked on a protest after complaining about allegedly being underpaid, and those who joined a labour union are being retrenched.

The protest started at the lodge’s gate on January 28. The disgruntled staff members had approached the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) on several occasions, but it failed to resolve their issues. Despite the DEL visiting the lodge, interacting with the staff and taking note of the working conditions, nothing has changed.

According to the staff, they are being paid less than the South African national minimum wage (NMW) of R27.79 an hour. According to some payslips shown to Hazyview Herald, the staff had been earning R2 800 per month for the past five years, with no increase.

One of the employees who has worked at the lodge for 30 years, Constance Mdluli, said she is retiring in two years’ time and it pains her that she will go home with nothing to show for all the years she has worked for the company. “I am currently earning R2 800 per month and I was not even registered for UIF or a pension fund. I only realised that I was registered in 2024  but I still don’t have a pension fund even though I am a permanent staff member. I am now demanding that the lodge at least pay us according to the hours we work and most importantly, adhere to the NMW,” she said.

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Zinhle Fakude, who has worked at the lodge for 12 years, said: “All I want is for our employer to pay us the minimum wage. When we work for more than the hours that we are required, they must pay us overtime. The reason we joined labour unions is because we are being exploited. We tried to engage the employer on several occasions, with no solution. We joined a union; now they want to retrench us.”

Butibi Mabunda, an employee at the lodge for 10 years, said he will not rest until their grievances are dealt with. He also alleged the lodge is retrenching them because it is hiring illegal immigrants, who are prepared to work for less money, to replace them. “I decided to join the strike because of the exploitation and the problem of being underpaid. Imagine working for a full 10 years and realising you were only registered for a year. I want the lodge to make sure that our concerns are adhered to, fix the salaries and stop the retrenchment,” he said.

The lodge’s Kavi Naidoo confirmed that some of his employees had embarked on a protest, but dismissed all the allegations and claimed his employees are all registered and that he is adhering to the NMW.

“According to my knowledge, all permanent employees are registered and all of them are receiving their salaries according to what we agreed on when we hired them. There is no business anymore and that is why we are retrenching some staff. As for the payslips that were shown to the publication, some staff members take advances on their salaries during the month, so they are then only paid the balance,” he said.

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Naidoo did not respond to questions regarding why it’s not indicated on the payslips that any UIF had been deducted, as he claims the staff members were registered for the benefit, and also why permanent workers were not put on the pension fund. There was also no indication that money had been deducted for an advance on any salaries.

The DEL’s spokesperson, Teboho Thejane, was not available for comment by the time of publication.