A group of about 100 angry farmworkers gathered in front of the Beaufort Street Police Station yesterday morning to claim wages they should have received on Saturday morning.
A group of about 100 angry farmworkers gathered in front of the Beaufort Street Police Station yesterday morning to claim wages they should have received on Saturday morning.
Tensions were high as they shouted at pedestrians in the area and policemen alike.
The seasonal workers, employed to harvest tomatoes at KwaNdlambe farm near Peddie, were furious when cash drawn by the Rumibyte payroll company was stolen before their eyes. The incident occurred on the police grounds in Beaufort Street.
Describing Saturday's robbery Rumibyte manager, Johann Du Plessis, said many of the workers gathered at the police station had been rowdy and under the influence of alcohol.
While he was trying to keep order, he said, one of the workers tried to steal the cellphone of his colleague, who was handing out the payments.
As he struggled to hold on to his cellphone, a second man grabbed the cash and ran away.
Du Plessis said yesterday that he'd tried to explain to the workers what had happened; however, he said, they had become rowdy, shouting abuse at the policemen in the vicinity and hurling stones and bottles at their vehicles.
The windscreen of one vehicle was shattered. After protesting for several hours, the workers eventually went home late on Saturday afternoon.
Du Plessis told Grocott's Mail yesterday morning that he would open a case against a man identified as the suspected robber, as soon as they had finished paying all the workers.
The man was identified after behaving with unusual generosity. "When I arrived at home in Extension 6 after the riot, I was asked to buy alcohol by one of my neighbours," a fellow worker told Grocott's Mail.
This was because [my fellow employee]had been buying for the whole area." When the man went to visit his colleague, however, he was surprised to be told the latter had no money – before he had asked.
