/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

The Department of Health and Social Development has noted the disappointment of the Independent Liberation and Allied Workers’ Union (ILAWU) regarding the fact that the contracts of the current cohort of Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) volunteers in the Jozi Ihlomile programme are coming to an end.

My department met with ILAWU on Monday, 9 May, to listen to their request that the contracts of current EPWP volunteer within the Jozi Ihlomile HIV/Aids door-to-door programme be extended for another year.

ILAWU raised a number of issues of concern particularly that the current volunteers assisted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their contracts were indeed previously extended due to the difficulties we faced during the pandemic, making it difficult to hire a new intake in 2021. 

ILAWU is also unhappy that the training the EPWP volunteers received was not SETA accredited and certificated, although department officials hold the view that these volunteers were trained sufficiently and received certificates in terms of the door-to-door health awareness work that they performed, and that their targets in terms of reaching City of Johannesburg (CoJ) residents were not only met but were exceeded.

It is a central feature of government’s EPWP initiative, which is now nearly 20 years old that its beneficiaries are meant to participate in work programmes that do not last longer than a year. Only in very exceptional circumstances should these contracts be extended.

It should also be noted that EPWP is regulated through Section 198B of the Labour Relations Act and that EPWP was never meant to bring about permanent employment. Its objective was to alleviate poverty by creating temporary and contract work.

To continue to perpetuate this violation of one of the central principles of the EPWP – regardless of whether there is debate around whether the programme was properly run or not – would be indefensible. 

Many arguments can be made about whether the programme ticked every box or not, but the argument that EPWP volunteers should remain in the same programme year after year cannot be made nor entertained.

By effectively treating some EPWP volunteers as permanent staff, the entire point of the programme is being defeated, since, conceptually, EPWP is meant to be a means for young or otherwise inexperienced South Africans to gain some work experience and other skills, hopefully with a future career path established for some of these beneficiaries.

As much as it is difficult at the end of every year to bid farewell to any EPWP participant, it would be equally unfair to deny a new intake of hopeful applicants the chance to gain experience and work within the City of Johannesburg. 

Unemployment, especially youth unemployment, is at a catastrophic level in our country, and EPWP plays a small role in helping to alleviate this problem, but indefinitely extending any EPWP contract is not the answer.

As much as ILAWU contends that they are only asking for a one-year contract extension for the current intake, our fear is that this debate and argument is likely to present itself yet again next year. 

Considering that the City’s workers have returned to work at 100% capacity and that we have learnt to live with the COVID-19 pandemic, it is my view that the decision needed to be made now and that further delays would be unjustifiable.

If indeed the criticisms of ILAWU around the training and capacitation of our department’s EPWP staff are valid, the office of the MMC will insist that the health department learns from this experience and ensures that we continue to improve the experience of all our EPWP volunteers in future.

This office, however, takes exception to ILAWU’s contention that EPWP should be seen as a programme that almost entirely benefits black African beneficiaries. 

There is no “purging” of black workers in our department, but it can also not be justifiable that the current staff complement of our entire department is 95% black African. 

This is not remotely representative of the demographics of our City. Any organisation that lacks diversity and fair representation is weaker and less dynamic.

That is why I have the expectation that the new intake of EPWP volunteers will also show more diversity in line with the Department of Health and Social Development’s employment drive known as Goetes Moet Balance / Izinto Mele Zilingane, which aims to create a more balanced workforce to serve all our residents more effectively.