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The Democratic Alliance welcomes horse-racing operator Phumelela Gaming and Leisure Ltd’s efforts to meet the Summer Cup deadline for improving the living and working conditions of grooms employed at Turffontein racecourse.

When the DA visited the racecourse for inspection this week, workers were hard at work, painting and renovating the grooms quarters. Broken toilet seats and basins had been replaced and showers had running hot water. In some cases new structures have even been built comprising a kitchen, shower and a toilet. About 95% of the renovations had been completed.

The grooms thanked the DA for taking up their cause.

Last month I visited the Turffontein racecourse where I was shocked by the inhumane living conditions of grooms employed by racehorse trainers.  We were informed by grooms working at Turffontein that:

&bull 400 grooms were sharing two toilets;
&bull grooms were forced to share a room with up to ten people;
&bull many of the grooms were forced to sleep on concrete floors or wooden boards as there were no beds made available;
&bull serious, even fatal, illnesses may have been contracted as a result of the unhygienic conditions; and
&bull some grooms were even forced to sleep in close proximity with horses in the stables.

I called for living conditions to be fixed by Summer Cup Day, the flagship race day to be held at Turffontein racecourse tomorrow, 29 November.

After exposing these conditions, representatives of Phumelela met with the DA and assured me that letters had been sent to all racehorse trainers instructing them to bring the grooms' accommodation to an acceptable standard by the end of November, which coincided with Summer Cup Day.

I thank Phumelela for keeping true to their word and improving the living conditions of the grooms. It is this commitment that must continue to be the ethos of the rebranding of the sport of horse-racing under the slogan “Racing – It’s a Rush”.

As horseracing continues to attract a growing cohort of young, diverse South Africans to big events like the Durban July, J&B Met and Summer Cup, the DA looks forward to all stakeholders walking the talk of greater equality in the sport.

I am happy with the work done so far and trust that Phumelela as racing authority will continue to ensure the standard of the facility is maintained.

We trust that the same commitment will be applied to the working and living conditions of grooms at all racecourses in the country, a situation the DA will continue to monitor on behalf of workers.

Issued by DA