About 1,500 employees of bus company North West Transport Investment (NTI) have not been paid their salaries for four months as the company struggles to get its finances in order.
NTI is state-owned and currently in business rescue following the appointment of senior Business Rescue Practitioner (BRP) Thomas Samsons by shareholders in July last year. The company operates in four regions, Mabopane, Watloo, Temba and Pretoria West, and its employees have had to find other means to make ends meet for the past few months. They said the company had told them that some of the budget for salaries was being used to finance diesel for the buses.
An employee who has been working as a ticket seller for the company for almost 20 years said she had been battling to feed her three children and her unemployed husband.
“My fridge is empty. I don’t know what the children will eat, especially on weekends. At least during the week they get to eat food from school's feeding scheme. Their school shoes are torn and it breaks my heart because this is not how we used to live. I had to borrow R200 from my sister to buy electricity, she explained.
She said the current situation had affected her mentally as she had been getting threatening letters from banks, where she had taken out loans.
Another worker said his wife had had to carry the burden of providing food for the house and that he was falling behind with their home bond.
The workers claim that the delayed payments issue started in 2018 as there would be times when their salaries would be paid late.
It was hoped that Samson would turn things around quickly for the company, which was facing liquidation.
In his response to Sowetan yesterday, Samson said some “good news” were on the horizon for the employees but he could only share this on Thursday.
“I can give you proper information with good news for employees on Thursday, this coming week. While we understand the relevance of the article, we hold the view that the information we will give later will be more meaningful and impactful,” said Samsons on Sunday.
Media liaison in the office of MEC for community safety, Oshebeng Koonyaditse said that MEC Sello Lehari was aware of the company’s challenges.
“The MEC is aware that workers have not been paid. He has been negotiating with the entity to assist them resolve their financial state. However the NTI is an independent business enterprise and it is responsible to pay its workers. The management there [at NTI] deals with the day-to-day running of the entity including salary payment,” said Koonyaditse.
He denied that the MEC once chased away NTI employees who had camped outside his offices for three days in protest of the non-payment of their salaries.
“The employees did come to our office several times and at no time did the MEC chase them away. In fact the MEC engaged with the workers and even went to the NTI office to address the challenges,” he explained.
Good news for NTI workers after months of no salaries
MEC’s office denies chasing bus employees from his office
Image: Tiro Ramatlhatse
About 1,500 employees of bus company North West Transport Investment (NTI) have not been paid their salaries for four months as the company struggles to get its finances in order.
NTI is state-owned and currently in business rescue following the appointment of senior Business Rescue Practitioner (BRP) Thomas Samsons by shareholders in July last year. The company operates in four regions, Mabopane, Watloo, Temba and Pretoria West, and its employees have had to find other means to make ends meet for the past few months. They said the company had told them that some of the budget for salaries was being used to finance diesel for the buses.
An employee who has been working as a ticket seller for the company for almost 20 years said she had been battling to feed her three children and her unemployed husband.
“My fridge is empty. I don’t know what the children will eat, especially on weekends. At least during the week they get to eat food from school's feeding scheme. Their school shoes are torn and it breaks my heart because this is not how we used to live. I had to borrow R200 from my sister to buy electricity, she explained.
She said the current situation had affected her mentally as she had been getting threatening letters from banks, where she had taken out loans.
Another worker said his wife had had to carry the burden of providing food for the house and that he was falling behind with their home bond.
The workers claim that the delayed payments issue started in 2018 as there would be times when their salaries would be paid late.
It was hoped that Samson would turn things around quickly for the company, which was facing liquidation.
In his response to Sowetan yesterday, Samson said some “good news” were on the horizon for the employees but he could only share this on Thursday.
“I can give you proper information with good news for employees on Thursday, this coming week. While we understand the relevance of the article, we hold the view that the information we will give later will be more meaningful and impactful,” said Samsons on Sunday.
Media liaison in the office of MEC for community safety, Oshebeng Koonyaditse said that MEC Sello Lehari was aware of the company’s challenges.
“The MEC is aware that workers have not been paid. He has been negotiating with the entity to assist them resolve their financial state. However the NTI is an independent business enterprise and it is responsible to pay its workers. The management there [at NTI] deals with the day-to-day running of the entity including salary payment,” said Koonyaditse.
He denied that the MEC once chased away NTI employees who had camped outside his offices for three days in protest of the non-payment of their salaries.
“The employees did come to our office several times and at no time did the MEC chase them away. In fact the MEC engaged with the workers and even went to the NTI office to address the challenges,” he explained.
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