I cannot think of a single workplace I’ve seen that imposes the cultural or religious practices of its management on its staff, excluding family-run and -staffed businesses where it’s obviously no imposition. The Mara Phones factory in Durban recently closed down after sales crashed. Over 200 staff were laid off after 10 months of no pay and a total absence of severance letters enabling them to claim grants, expected deference from its mainly Zulu staff. They were forced to eat only vegetarian foods with a canteen serving the same, banned from bringing in meat in any packed lunches (most Zulus being traditional meat eaters), and some staff were made to stand while working; it sounds like a Chinese sweat shop. Religious imagery allegedly adorned the walls. Yet, President Ramaphosa saw fit to open it just two years ago. A bit analogous to huge pictures of his cabinet ministers erected in public facilities of their respective portfolios across the country. All hail, it seems … until the storm. – Chris Bateman
Lunch breaks in toilets and no bras allowed – working at the Mara Phones factory
A former Mara Phones employee has painted a bleak picture of the working conditions they were subjected to at its now-defunct Durban factory.
The facility is set to be sold by its main lenders, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Standard Bank, later this month. This comes barely two-and-a-half years after President Cyril Rampahosa’s opening of the facility to much fanfare.
Mara Phones said its smartphones have not sold as expected and that the Covid-19 pandemic badly hurt its operations. The closure has cost more than 200 Mara Phones factory workers their jobs, and cast doubts on the future of its Experience Store in Soweto operated by entrepreneur and SABC broadcaster Chanté Jantjies.
MyBroadband managed to track down one of Mara’s employees, who gave us an account of their experience at the factory.
The employee alleged that Mara Phones had no regard for human rights or fair labour practice. Workers were last paid their salaries for April 2021 and have not received any remuneration since then. “It has been 10 months of hunger, poverty and stress from our creditors,” the employee stated. “We have lost more assets due to non-payments, and no one seems to care.”
The employee also said there had been no communication from Mara group head of operations Hetal Shah or Mara founder Ashish Thakkar regarding the factory’s shutdown. On top of this, employees have been unable to claim UIF because Mara Phones “refused” to give them retrenchment letters when the factory stopped production.
“We can’t apply for any sort of government support, like the R350 [Covid-19 relief of distress] grants, because we are still registered as employed by Mara Phones,” they stated.
The employee also claimed Mara never paid an income tax deduction from employees’ salaries to the South African Revenue Service (SARS). The employee went into detail on the circumstances at the factory.
“The rules were set and we had no choice but to obey; otherwise, we would be constantly reminded by the experts how the company is doing us a favour by paying us and feeding us as South Africans.”
Despite being contracted to work for nine hours per day at a rate of R33 per hour, workers were only paid for eight hours per day. For a lunch break, they were only given 30 minutes each day.
The canteen at the factory only served vegetarian food and staff were not allowed to bring in their own meals with meat. The worker said this was supposedly in line with instructions from Mara’s group head of operations, Hetal Shah.
The worker described the food provided at the canteen as “low class”. Staff who managed to sneak in their own food had to eat this in the bathroom “whilst others would be relieving themselves”.
The employees said workers were also made to feel uncomfortable with religious imagery in the factory. “Together with the providing of only vegetarian food, this made us feel like we were forced to adopt their culture,” they said.
Women allegedly treated badly
Female workers at the factory were supposedly also barred from wearing bras, ostensibly to prevent the security alarms from being triggered by the metal wires in them.
It is not common for metal detectors such as those at airports to trigger when women wearing bras pass through them. That is because they are tuned with sensitivity thresholds that disregard low levels of metal content. “Instead of fixing the system, women were humiliated and discriminated against,” the employee claimed.
Women also had to remove their wedding rings when entering working areas.
Some employees in their department working on “non-sitting EMS stations” were forced to stand from 07:30 until 17:30 even if there was no production. The employee stated that one of their colleagues was fired for not being able to stand so long after falling ill.
MyBroadband asked Mara Phones for comment on the accusations, but the company did not respond to our questions.
