Thousands of workers employed under the Expanded Public Works Programme ( EWP) in the eThekwini municipality could be without jobs by the end of July because the municipality does not have the money to fund the programme.
An internal memorandum issued on July 2 to different department heads, spelt out challenges facing the municipality with regard to the programme.
“The total yearly expenditure on EPWP is R297 million. The incentive grant from the department of public works was reduced to R18.7 million rands, which means that the municipality had to find savings of R273 million in order to sustain the programme in its current form .
“Unfortunately the City manager and the Chief Financial officer have indicated that the municipality doesn't have the required savings hence the contract for all EPWP participants will not be renewed,” it said.
The notice informs the managers that the last salaries will be paid on July 25, and calls on them to ensure that the staff do not continue working beyond that date.
DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa said it was painful that workers would lose their jobs. “These are some of the hard working people in the city and therefore service delivery is going to suffer.”
ActionSA councillor Zwakele Mncwango said it was not surprising that the city had taken this decision. “The decision to fund the program was taken last year, but they city had said they did not have the money and will still look for sayings,” he said.
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said the IFP was shocked at the ending of the programme, “there are many people that were able to look after their families under this programme, in Durban thousands of people are part of the programme.”
EThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson, Gugu Sisilana said, “The Municipality will not discuss internal matters with a third party. Service delivery projects will be implemented in accordance with the detailed budget which was approved by Council for the 2024/25 financial year. This budget is in line with the City’s Integrated Development Plan available on the Municipal website www.durban.gov.za”
The Mercury