Labourers at the doomed George construction site were building a multi-million rand structure but they were allegedly paid wages below the legal minimum wage.

Workers who escaped with their lives from the collapsed building told Sunday World that some labourers were earning R85 to R150 a day. Most of those working on the site were allegedly illegal immigrants from Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Lesotho.

Tapiwa Shava, who hails from Zimbabwe, a tiler who worked on the site for six months, said he was paid R100 a day. “I knew that money was little, but I had no choice but to take it. My family situation forced me to take the job but as you know people like us with no legal papers, we take everything on the table so that we can survive with our families...

Shava refused to disclose the name of the company that had employed him, stating that many illegal immigrants were in hiding as they feared for their lives after the collapse...

Mohale Sekonyela, a migrant from Lesotho who is also hiding in Lawaaikamp township, stated that he was getting R150 a day...

Malawian Wakisa Mruwari, whose wife Mercy Mtambo worked as a secretary and a cleaner, said she was earning R150 a day. “We had to be resilient and for her to bring that little money home for us to survive and raise our one-year-old child,” said Mruwari.

Mtambo died on the site.

Mozambican national, Bassima Manjate, said working conditions at Neo Victoria were hazardous.  ...