Mounds of rubbish are piling up at several Cape Town train stations as cleaners are on a go-slow because they have not been paid.
|||Mounds of rubbish are piling up at several Cape Town train stations, particularly those on the Khayelitsha line, as cleaners are on a go-slow because they have not been paid since December.
Owners of contract cleaning companies say they face ruin and can’t pay workers’ salaries because Prasa Corporate Real Estate Solutions (Prasa Cres), a division of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa), has not been honouring its obligations to pay them.
“My 46 staffers were not paid because I’ve not been paid. About R120 000 is due to my company every month and I can’t provide a service if I don’t get paid,” said Yusuf Abdullah, owner of Yusuf’s Cleaning and Horticultural Services.
“I can’t buy consumables or pay accounts. It has been going on for the last 18 months and I can’t cope any more.”
Another cleaning contractor, Reginald Fisher, who owns Wavecrest Enterprises, said: “I employ 10 people on the Muldersvlei line. I get paid R36 000 a month and pay salaries of R2 200. The last time we got paid by Prasa Cres was in December. I’m in trouble with the SA Revenue Service (Sars) and the Department of Labour because I’m unable to pay VAT and UIF. I’m facing ruin and don’t know what to do.”
Abdullah’s workers at Khayelitsha station said while they did not blame him, they faced hardship as their salaries of R2 300 to R2 500 were their only income. Some said they were forced to borrow money to survive.
“I’ve worked since 2009 and although the salary is low, it helps. I’m the breadwinner in my family where there are seven children and three adults,” said Khayelitsha mother Nosango Mki, 59.
Worker John Kopani said their go-slow was out of frustration while Khayelitsha father Ernest Moses said: “We want to be paid on time. Yusuf is not the problem, it is Prasa Cres.”
On Tuesday bags of rubbish were piled up at the train station where toilets were filthy and rubbish bins overflowed.
Metrorail regional manager Lindelo Matya said he was aware of the unpaid payments to cleaning contractors and that there was a payment backlog at Prasa Cres head office.
“There were problems with the system. The Prasa Cres chief executive and chief financial officer have met with the companies and there is an undertaking to pay them by the end of the month,” Matya said.
Prasa Cres chief executive Tumisang Kgaboesele said the problem was due to a number of “challenges” at the company’s head office in Gauteng.
These included suppliers’ invoices that were not properly processed because to a lack of capacity at the office, and collusion between some contractors and Prasa Cres’s staff. There were instances in which payments were made for work not done and services rendered without proper authorisation, he said, and added that Cape Town contractors were not the only ones affected by late payments.
“We’ve started a forensic investigation. Cash flow management has also been a challenge. Prasa has R38 million available in December to address backlogs as far back as April and as we speak, we’ve paid everything up to November. Currently we are processing payments for December and January,” Kgaboesele said.
Meanwhile, a small group of SA Transport and Allied Workers Union members on strike protested outside Cape Town station, saying they wanted the Prasa management to address serious issues of accountability within the company.
Matya said train services were unaffected and while no action would be taken against the strikers, the “no work, no pay” rule would be applied. - Cape Times
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