An elderly man walked away with nothing after dedicating his life to working at a farm for 69 years.

Mokgwabone Kleinboy Dinake, who turned 84 last week Friday, spent all his active life working for a farm currently run by Boet Terreblanche in Ventersdorp, North West.

He retired last October after he had started working at the farm from the tender age of 15.

Speaking from his rusted corrugated iron shack riddled with small holes that allow wintry winds to flow through, the frail Dinake said he started working on the farm in 1949 when Terreblanche's father, Andries, employed him to herd goats.

"When Andries was still alive he used to pay me R300 a month. Every year after the harvesting period he would also reward me with 300 bags of maize, which I would sell to the millers to make extra income for myself," he said while seated on a worn-out couch.

Dinake said when Terreblanche took over the farm after his father's death in 1999, his wages of R300 did not increase.

Even worse, his 300 bags of maize bonus at the end of the harvesting period was discontinued. The new owner opted to provide two bags of 12.5kg mielie meal a month.