Mohau Maretele
Schweizer reneke – On Thursday, May 18, 2023, the Mamusa sub-district of the Department of Public Works and Roads was closed down by striking Expanded Public Works Programme. learnership students who had not been paid their stipend for the month of April. Learners raised a number of issues with which they were dissatisfied over the course of their contract with the Department of Public Works and Roads.
Veronique Modise, one of the students in the learnership programme, mentioned another problem they’re not comfortable with, which is that their last payment in March has been increased from R2 200 to R3 300—the adjustments they were not made aware of and did not know about. She also raised another issue, which is that out of the three programmes they’ve gone through, they haven’t received any certificates, including for the current programme of road construction, landscaping, and driver operators. The Department of Public Works and Roads engaged into a three-year contract with the trainees in September 2020 under its EPWP learnership program. The contract MORONGWA viewed stated that the three years’ duration agreed upon will end on August 31, 2023. When we contacted the department about the issues, Lerato Gambu, the media liaison officer, claimed that there had been a “misunderstanding” over the contracts and that they had set a meeting with the students to discuss a solution. However, Mr. Gambu was unable to go into additional detail regarding the “misunderstanding” and their strategy for handling the situation. In addition, he said that as far as they knew, their contract with the students ended in March and that there were no renewal talks that have been initiated. With all that information, it is most likely that the students won’t be paid for the months of May leading up to August. With regards to the issue of certificates: “The department is awaiting certificates from service providers for those that were found competent”, Gambu said.
Regarding the matter of an increased stipend, the department said they were compelled to increase all EPWP stipends in line with the EPWP minimal wage that was issued in March 2023.
The department is adamant that the contract that they are aware of ended in March, and they say that they are looking into the existence of the other contracts.
