When you do the work, but do not get paid

NO ONE wants to work like a slave in a cotton field in this day and age.

But there are still companies that exploit small businesspeople and pay them little or nothing for the work they have done.

Two budding entrepreneurs who have been battling to get their money for services rendered were paid a portion of what is due to them only after Consumer Line intervened.

Bethuel Mangena, a cartoonist who works for Sunday World, says he will think twice before he does any work again for the Department of Education.

Mangena says he received a telephone call from the department complimenting him on the work he does for the newspaper.

They then asked if he would help them do a nutritional booklet. He agreed to do the booklet for R18,500, but they kept adding work until they had compiled a second one, he says.

Mangena says when he was commissioned to do the work he had not yet registered his company. He says he alerted the department about this and they did not have a problem because he was in the process of registering it.

"The agreement was to do only one booklet, but I ended up doing two booklets," Mangena says.

He says he was only paid R7,000 of his R18,500 after Consumer Line intervened.

Mangena says he realised that he was being exploited when he was asked to do additional work over and above what was agreed on in May last year, but he played along because he did not want to spoil his relationship with the department.

"Pages turned into two booklets over the months, but nothing was said about payment for the second booklet," Mangena says.

By the time they found a printer who agreed to do the booklets, he had lost all hope of ever being paid.

His second hurdle was to get his money from the owner of Justin's Printers.

Mangena says the department's official, Selby Mzimba, took advantage of the fact that his company was not registered when they enlisted his services.

"Without verifying whether my company was eventually registered, they proceeded and deposited my money into the account of Justin Printers because they thought I was not registered and they preferred paying the money into one account," he says.

Mzimba says they paid Mangena's money into Justin Printers' FNB account because the three had entered into a gentlemen's agreement since Mangena's company was not registered.

The man who introduced himself as Justin of Justin Printers only agreed to pay Mangena after Consumer Line stepped in.

He told Consumer Line his bank account was frozen for no reason, but he undertook to get loans from his friends to pay Mangena.

He deposited R7,000 into Mangena's account after a month-long battle without mentioning when the balance of the money would be paid.

• Michael Groenewald of Hezeki Pty Ltd paid Mashole Mojapelo a portion of his R197,000 after Consumer Line's intervention.

Mojapelo is a contractor who installs underground telecommunication lines.

Groenewald sub-contracted him to install phone cables in January and he completed the work in June, but he has not been paid.

"I employed 27 men to dig the trenches where the cables must be placed. These men cannot even afford to buy soap because I too have not paid them," he says.

Mojapelo says a number of black-owned companies are complaining about similar exploitation. They work, but do not get paid.

"You are exploited despite working long hours for little or no pay. Apparently this company is doing it to many small black companies," he says.

Without commenting on Mojapelo's allegations, Groenewald paid him a portion of his money.

Groenewald says Mojapelo's quote was inaccurate and they have told him so in their meetings.

He made a payment of R100,000 on Friday, after our intervention. The payment had not been cleared at the time of going to print.