Durban - While the Department of Home Affairs has managed to create 10 000 job opportunities for unemployed youth who will take part in the three-year digitisation project, the salaries offered have set tongues wagging, with others questioning the motive of the project.
Graduates in possession of a master's degree will earn up to R14 250 gross monthly salary for a management position while those with diplomas will earn R5 000, according to the advertised posts.
Those who hold degrees will earn R6 000 to R6 500 while those with an honours degree will earn R9 500. The duties for the lower earners will include the retrieval of files, sorting, and listing among them.
The middle earners, the honours degree holders, will perform supervision of day-to-day activities, manage performance and provide daily and weekly reports, the post explains. The top earners will manage and lead the teams.
Job seekers took to social media where the post was advertised to vent their frustration about the job pay.
In comparison with the normal government pay, the offers were relatively too low. For example, an administrative job that includes duties similar to those who will be doing administration pays R191 000 per annum, which translates to a gross salary of R15 000 per month. Supervisors and middle managers can earn up to R300 000 per annum, while top managers earn over R600 000 per annum.
A job seeker, Vusi Mthombeni said while they appreciated the opportunities, the project seemed more of an exploitation of desperate graduates that would be confined to this contract for three years.
“We appreciate this but this is exploitation. R5 000 a month and a bus fare and a place to stay cost R4 000. The food prices have gone up. How will the private sector respect if the government is doing this,” he asked on the Facebook page where the vacancies were posted.
Another graduate, Ellijah Madwara, described the pay offer as ‘neoliberalism’. He said the government made graduates desperate so that they would jump at any opportunity that came their way. “Make them desperate, then give them crumbs... they will jump in joyfully," he commented.
The workers' union said while they welcomed the job creation, they were worried about the payment, which according to them, was below the living wage.
Trevor Shaku SAFTU National Spokesperson said any job that is below minimum living wage which is R17 per hour, which amounts to R12 500 per month, was an insult. He said they wanted the government to change the minimum wage fromR4 000 saying it was not helping people.
“We encourage the mass employment that the government is doing, but it must have guarantees and pay a living wage. What is the point of creating these jobs if they are not going to have an impact on workers' lives?
We want a living wage with guaranteed job security from the private and public sector,” he said. Sizwe Pamla, Cosatu Spokesperson, referred to the payment as exploitation and said it was unacceptable.
He lamented that people made sacrifices to acquire skills in the hopes that they would change their lives.
“Workers should be paid according to the skills they have required. It is said that this is done by the government, which should be advocating a living wage.
This is glorifying slavery to say you have created so many jobs but the pay is so poor. "The government spends millions on consultation but they can not pay qualified graduates a fair salary,” he said.
While the payment was relatively low, there was an overwhelming response from desperate unemployed graduates who wanted to earn something.
Esther Tloane, Department of Employment and Labour Chief Director, said so far the department has received 85 820 applications and 23 374 have qualified to be assessed and interviewed. He confirmed that the project was expected to run over a three-year period, effective from November 2022 until October 2025.
"The recruitment drive will be divided into three phases. Phase 1 – will see recruitment of the first intake of 2 000 unemployed youth graduates.
This cohort will assume duty on 1 November 2022. Phase 2 – will see a further recruitment of 4 000 unemployed youth graduates. This cohort will assume duty in January 2023. Phase 3 – will see a further and last recruitment of 4 000 unemployed youth graduates.
This cohort will assume duty in April 2023. Successful youth will be paid a stipend ranging from R5 000 for entry-level positions to R9 500 for technical support level positions and R14 250 for Manager level positions. This cohort will be required to sign a three-year contract linked to the duration of the project," he added.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE