EPWP protest threatens city services

EXPANDED Public Works Programme (EPWP) workers have vowed to bring service delivery in Kimberley to a standstill if they are not permanently absorbed by the Sol Plaatje Municipality.

Rubble, bricks and burning tyres were strewn across the entrance of the Ashburnham council yard this week. Municipal vehicles may not be able to refuel if the gates remain closed. 

The workers said yesterday that their protest action would continue until their demands were met.

“We are the ones doing the dirty work — cleaning the streets, parks and graveyards. Without us, no work will be done — we will see who collects the refuse. The city will be turned into a pigsty,” they said.

Workers also staged a sit-in in the middle of the road to stop traffic.

“We will continue protesting until they offer us permanent contracts in writing. We are tired of empty promises and being undermined.” 

Some workers indicated that they had not been paid for two months.

“We can only afford to eat dry bread and cheap chips,” one said.

They claimed they had been excluded from the 498 contract workers who were recently offered permanent positions.

“We have between 10 and 15 years’ service and many of us are single mothers and sole breadwinners, earning stipends of R2,500. Each month we receive a different amount. We are struggling — our electricity is cut, we can’t afford rent or school fees, and our insurance policies have lapsed. Our contracts can end at any time and we will be left destitute. We have no pensions or medical aid. 

“The workers who were absorbed all have the same surname or are politically connected.”

Another worker said he could not afford to send his daughter to her matric dance.

“I have to pretend that everything is fine, but it is not.”

The workers were addressed by acting municipal manager, Busisiwe Magagula, shortly after her appointment during a special council meeting on October 1.

A number of workers, however, declined an invitation to meet her at the City Hall yesterday.