The Department of Employment and Labour had worked with police to track down the farmer who allegedly defrauded the fund of R109 376.39, claiming Ters for seven employees for the period of March 27 until September 15, without their knowledge.
Former Graafwater police officer Jim Swartz and Rural and Farmworkers Development Organization Executive Director Billy Claasen had raised the alarm with authorities in November last year.
The farmer would allegedly alert them, say the money was accidentally paid to them, take them to the ATM, let them withdraw the money and pay it to him. Esau said the inspectorate found that the employer declared salaries for all seven employees from March to September 2020, which indicates that the employees were fully employed as the Agriculture sector was declared an essential service and therefore not affected by the lockdown regulations.
He said the Department is in possession of some workers bank statements where the money was paid into their bank account from the employer’s account. The last transaction took place on October 22 last year.