Cut in EPWP funding sparks unrest

Refuse collection and street sweeping services in several parts of the eThekwini Municipality were disrupted on Wednesday after Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) employees downed tools.

According to the City, the workers resorted to blocking gates in different depots as they held protests over contract renewals.

Members of the Municipal and Allied Trade Union of South Africa (Matusa) held a picket outside the Durban City Hall on Tuesday and again on Wednesday over the termination of contracts for the EPWP participants.

The picket has led to refuse left uncollected and scattered by the wind in the Durban CBD and surrounding suburbs.

Five months ago, municipal workers embarked on strike action that saw rubbish left unattended for several days.

The protests, which lasted for three weeks, was over salary increases as municipal workers claimed that their remuneration did not match that of workers in other municipalities.

Matusa’s deputy general secretary, Thulani Ngwenya, claimed that some EPWP workers who had been employed for more than 15 years had their contracts terminated without consultation.

“Another thing is that you (the municipality) keep the employees as EPWP for more than 15 years against the rules, terms and conditions that regulate their employment as EPWP, which states that you must only keep them as employees for two years, terminate (their contracts) and employ others. But against those conditions, you keep the EPWP workers for over 15 years and you terminate (their contracts) out of the blue. What would be the response of the workers?

“It is very unfair because you (the municipality) have created an impression that they are still your employees because you have kept them for a very long time... now if you decide to terminate them (the contracts)... who is going to clean the town?

“That is why they (the municipality) is trying to employ new people other than those whose contracts are terminated.

That is why our members are protesting.” Ngwenya said the municipality should have kept the workers, adding that they would keep picketing until their grievances were attended to.

“There is a lot of injustice and exploitation of the EPWP by the same government that we voted into power.

This is not going to end now, we are willing to take it as far as we possibly can because there is a lot of injustice happening here,” he said.

Following a meeting of the executive committee (Exco) of the eThekwini Municipality, chaired by the mayor, Cyril Xaba, the municipality announced that it was set to receive an R18.79million incentive grant from the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) for the 2024/25 financial year. This figure marks a stark reduction of R42m from the previous year’s allocation. Consequently, the number of EPWP participants will plummet from 4155 to just 1276.

This drastic reduction has ignited a wave of unrest among current EPWP participants, whose contracts are scheduled to end this month.

Exco member Mdu Nkosi said the City can expect more unrest from the EPWP participants. “There is a high possibility of that (protest) because people are losing jobs, they will suffer, together with their family (when) they were hoping to get permanent jobs.

“The potential consequences can be the interruption of services as has been reported because if there is a strike in the city many people will definitely not be able to be at their workplace on time.

“eThekwini does not need these negative reports because with the arrival of a new mayor, people have high hopes. This is the only metro in the province and all hopes in terms of the economy and job creation are here,” said Nkosi.

On Wednesday the municipality communications unit requested residents not to take out their refuse until further notice as a result of the disruption in waste collection and street-sweeping services.

“This is due to the former EPWP participants who have resorted to blocking gates in different depots and who have intimidated staff and refuse collection contractors.

“This has made it impossible for normal collection of refuse to take place.

Several areas have been affected by this disruption, and security personnel have been alerted of the situation at hand.”

Despite the funding cuts, the municipality said it aimed to create 65018 work opportunities between 2024 and 2029.

The Mercury