Disgruntled former and current employees of a Limpopo state-owned bus company have accused the government of swindling and mishandling their provident funds, subjecting them to poverty.
More than 100 workers from Great North Transport (GNT) marched to three Limpopo government departments in Polokwane to submit a list of grievances including demands to stop the liquidation of the provident fund before all their money is paid.
The workers also demanded the release of a forensic investigation report and that President Cyril Ramaphosa issue a proclamation authorising the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to probe allegations of mismanagement of their provident fund.
The GNT Provident Fund, a subsidiary of the Limpopo Economic Development Agency, has been rocked by allegations of mismanagement and maladministration which led to the Limpopo government instituting a forensic investigation about two years ago.
One of the workers, a former bus driver, Abram Mabunda, 72, from Mokopane, said he worked for the company for 36 years and was paid a retirement package of less than R300,000.
“My family is suffering at the moment as I can’t afford to take care of them. I worked for GNT for many years that I believed my provident fund's contribution was supposed to be no less than R1m.
“It’s not even six years since I went on retirement but now I have got nothing to show out of it and the money is finished. I’m unable to send my children and grandchildren to school because I was paid peanuts,” said Mabunda.
Mabunda said he retired in 2016 and has since been fighting to get all of the money due to him but without success.
“Nobody is willing to explain to us what has happened to our money and it's a pity that some of our colleagues have died without receiving a cent. We need to use the money also to see medical doctors because we are sick because of driving some of the unroadworthy buses,” he said.
Another former employee, Peter Mnisi, 69, from Lebowakgomo, said he started working for the bus company in 1977 and retired in 2016.
“I’m so angry at our government for taking us for granted because the situation has left me with a broken family. My wife left me because she thought I got a lot of money and I was hiding it,” he said.
Mnisi said he started working as a bus driver until he was promoted to a rank inspector.
Widow Edith Letsoalo, from Moletji, said her late husband Frans Letsoalo was a bus driver and died in 2013, leaving her with nothing to support her three children.
“I want the company to pay the money so we can better our lives. The money belongs to my husband and his family, it is not a favour from anyone because we deserve it,” she said.
The crowd was led by a director of an organisation called Make It Happen Foundation (Mihafo), Harry Masindi, who has been spearheading the campaign to pay workers what is due to them.
Masindi said the Limpopo Treasury department put out a tender for a forensic investigation into the GNT Provident Fund.
“The tender was eventually awarded to a forensic company in 2019 and it submitted the final report to Treasury in May 2021. But to date it has yet to release the final report; instead, Mihafo was shocked to see a newspaper advert announcing the liquidation of the GNT Provident Fund in July,” he said.
The agency’s spokesperson Leo Gama said it would respond to the grievances in the stipulated time of 72 hours.
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