Businessinsidercoza Unpaid wages 30-minute lunch breaks workers speak out about working conditions at Mara Phones

Mara phones store front Maponya Mall

Mara Phones factory workers say that the company still owes them wages.

Although the factory stopped production in July 2021, workers were only paid until May 2021.

The workers have endured harsh working conditions and said they haven't been able to claim for UIF as they have not been issued retrenchment letters.

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Workers at the Mara Phone factory at the Dube Trade Port have spoken out about instances of poor pay and exploitation while working at the plant, stating that some of their wages remain unpaid.

According to the workers who last worked in July 2021 when the factory halted operations, they last got paid in May 2021 for April and often had to endure late payments.

"Since we were employed in 2019 when it [Mara Phones factory] opened, we were given a three-month training contract where we were told that we will get paid approximately between R3,500 to R3,700," one worker told Business Insider South Africa.

In October 2019, Mara Phones launched South Africa's first high-tech smartphone manufacturing plant with big ambitions to employ at least 450 people over five years. But just two years later, the factory has gone under, after heavy investments from its funders, the Industrial Development Corporation, Standard Bank, and its founder and group CEO, Ashish Thakkar.

A group of workers told Business Insider that they weren't informed that the factory would be going on auction and were surprised as they had been waiting for management to finalise a Management By Objectives process, which was meant to improve the company's performance. 

See also | Mara Phones went bust in South Africa despite a R100 million tax break, and govt preference

The workers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were promised permanent employment after the three-month period and a pay raise. But after the three months, they were offered new six-month contracts similar to the first, but with a new permanent probation clause, and remuneration was raised to R4,500. The contracts were never revised to permanent, they said.

"There was no contract that was straightforward, that stated that 'you are hired as [a] permanent Mara Phones [employee]. So, we asked for our contracts, and they kept telling us we will get them," said one worker.

"Instead, the monies were raised to R5,300; that was the highest amount we were ever paid at Mara. We were supposed to be permanent, with medical aid and pension fund as they promised us, but we didn't get any of those," the worker said.

The workers said the company was often behind schedule with their salaries, with some salaries paid out almost a whole month later.

Among the workers' grievances is that Mara did not issue some workers retrenchment letters, making it impossible to claim for their UIF, the workers said.

"Our payslips as employees showed a tax deduction which was never paid to SARS. None of the employees are able to claim their UIF; we can't apply for any sort of government support [such as the] R350 grants because we are still registered as employed by Mara phones; they refused to give us retrenchment letters," they said.

"Mara Phones owe us a provident fund which was never paid for since inception, they gave us no benefits as employees, to top it all off, the contract stated that we were to be provided with medical aids, however that was not the case," they said.

In a copy of the contract seen by Business Insider, workers were obligated to be members of Mara Phones South Africa Pension fund in which workers could elect to contribute from 11% to 17.5% of their earnings.

During their time at the factory, the workers had a 30-minute lunch break and were barred from bringing their own food into the company's canteen if it wasn't vegetarian, they said.

They said the canteen only served vegetarian meals as Thakkar's family members, who were also the shareholders and board members, are vegetarian. No meat foods were allowed, they said.

"As employees at Mara phones, we were forced to eat in the toilets/changing rooms whilst others would be relieving themselves at the same time. This was due to one of Mara's senior directors instructing security that employees were not allowed to bring in their own food. The excuse given being security reasons," they said.

They added that some workers in the factory's non-sitting electronics manufacturing services were forced to stand from 07:30 to 17:30, even when there was no production taking place.

Business Insider reached out to Mara Phones, but the company did not immediately respond to allegations against them. 

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