World Cup volunteers paid less
2010-09-06 14:48
Petro-Anne Morkel, News24
Cape Town - Some World Cup volunteers from the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium have been paid less than they were supposed to due to a taxation error by the Local Organising Committee (LOC) at the stadium.
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) student Naledi Mseti said he felt cheated by the LOC in Port Elizabeth as he had signed a contract which had promised him R100 everyday he worked as a volunteer.
He claims the LOC paid him R500 less than what he was owed.
“I am aware that I shouldn’t expect money, because I was a volunteer, but (the LOC) promised me R100 a day and I signed a contract, which should have been binding,” said Mseti. “It really paints a bad picture of the LOC in PE.”
'R100 is a lot'
Lynn Oliphant, who was part of the shuttle management team during the World Cup, said that she believes that the LOC’s “calculations weren’t correct when they paid us. We were not paid according to the number of days people worked.
“It has caused a lot of ill will,” added Oliphant, who is unemployed. “If you are unemployed R100 is a lot. You count the number of days worked and expect to be paid so much. I am very disappointed because I had plans for that money.”
NMMU student Yolanda Bangeni worked as an insurance administrator at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. She received R800 less form the LOC than she thought she would. “I worked for 25 days and should have gotten R2 500, but (the LOC) only paid me R1 700.”
Bangeni claims that after some volunteers had approached the LOC to complain about the stipends, they were told that all the Nelson Mandel Bay volunteers had been taxed.
None of these volunteers should have been taxed, said Onke Mjo, manager of the volunteer programme for the 2010 LOC.
She told News24 that a volunteer “stipend is R100 per day volunteered, taxed at 25% when employed and not taxed when a student, unemployed or retired”.
Error
“It was an error in taxing them,” said Mjo. “(It) happened because the venue incorrectly taxed all the (volunteers).”
“Nelson Mandela Bay volunteers were all taxed in the first payment run including (those who were) unemployed, retired and unemployed students.”
She explained that the venue submitted a document with this error to auditing firm Ernest and Young. This error was then carried over to First National Bank, who paid the volunteers according to the payment document it had received.
According to Mjo, the LOC have taken steps to rectify this error.
“A second payment run will be on... September 17 in order to address the gap in payment created by tax to those volunteers that should not (have been) taxed,” she said.
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