{"id":1234,"date":"2020-04-20T10:49:04","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T08:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marxistworkersparty.org.za\/?p=1234"},"modified":"2020-04-30T16:39:04","modified_gmt":"2020-04-30T14:39:04","slug":"epwp-bulletin-9-ancs-gauteng-government-starving-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/?p=1234","title":{"rendered":"EPWP BULLETIN #9: ANC\u2019s Gauteng Government Starving Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lockdown Used to Dismiss EPWP Workers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The 5,000 EPWP workers falling\nunder Gauteng\u2019s Department of Infrastructure Development have not received\ntheir April stipends. These stipends of R2,200 are completely inadequate in\nnormal times. They are below even the poverty-level national minimum wage. But\nunder the harsh conditions of the lockdown whole families and communities have\nsuffered a collapse in income. Receiving the small stipend has become a matter\nof life and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision of the Gauteng DID\nto choose this moment to carry through its threat to cancel the contracts of\nits workers and deny them an income is an act of barbarity. Workers will not be\nsurprised by the Department\u2019s cruelty. It is the culmination of years of abuse\nand exploitation.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue has never been that the\nDepartment could not fund the existing EPWP workers. The Department\u2019s argument\nhas been that they made a mistake by keeping the same workers on the programme\nfor as long as seven years. They wanted to bring new people in. Surely they are\nnot recruiting during the lockdown? Therefore the money that should have been\npaid in stipends must just be sitting and gathering dust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the EPWP Forum inquired from\nthe returning Chief Director, Ms Rae Davids, about the non-payment of the April\nstipends she declared that the contracts had expired. Therefore the Gauteng\nProvincial Government had nothing to do with the EPWP workers any longer. This\nwas despite the fact that the DID had given a written undertaking to engage\nwith the workers as a result of the 9 and 10 March protest and sleep-over at\nthe DID\u2019s Corner House HQ in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the two weeks after the Corner\nHouse protest management played hide and seek with workers\u2019 leaders. They would\nnot pitch to meetings, reschedule them, and then again fail to turn-up. The\nState of Disaster and lockdown must have come as a huge relief to them! They\ncould let the contract expiration date come and go. With workers shut up at\nhome, guarded by soldiers and under threat of arrest if they tried to assemble\nthey were safe from fresh protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Davids has been away from the\nDID for some time after being suspended for incompetence. She was responsible\nfor the DID\u2019s failure to comply with the requirements of the EPWP programme on\ntraining for example. It was under her watch that the legitimate expectation of\npermanent employment was created. The MEC\u2019s Chief of Staff admitted this in the\nmeeting with the workers on 9March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Davids has celebrated returning\nto her post by sending EPWP workers and their families into starvation and destitution.\nBut she is able to feed her family during the lockdown from the comfort of her\nhome and fat salary. Ms Davids insists that the EPWP workers are not the\nGauteng Provincial Government\u2019s responsibility. But officials from the same\ngovernment are denying EPWP workers emergency food parcels, claiming that they\nare still employed. Whether it is Ms Davids who is lying, or the officials\nresponsible for distributing food, the effect is the same: EPWP workers and\ntheir families are starving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reports show that the\ndistribution of food parcels is already marred by corruption. Three ANC\ncouncillors were arrested in the North West for having the parcels delivered to\ntheir houses. They wanted to buy the \u2018gratitude\u2019 of the community by allocating\nthe parcels themselves. EPWP workers are very used to this trick. It is an open\nsecret that ANC councillors use EPWP \u2018jobs\u2019 to try and win votes. They even\ncall EPWP workers to campaign for them in elections to return the \u2018favour\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Solidarity?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On TV President Ramaphosa has\nbeen calling for South Africa to act with \u201csolidarity, understanding and\ncompassion\u201d and face the coronavirus crisis as a \u201cunited country\u201d. He has even\noffered to cut his salary by one third for the next three months. Most workers\nwould have been very sceptical about this. Firstly, Ramaphosa can afford to\ntake a cut in his salary of nearly R3 million per year, which comes to R250,000\nper month. Whilst he volunteered his salary cut, he gave ordinary public sector\nworkers no such option. He simply refused to implement the 2020 wage increase agreed\nto in the agreement signed in 2018. That is theft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are therefore not surprised that\nRamaphosa\u2019s deployees in the ANC-run Gauteng Provincial Government have followed\nhis example as a liar and hypocrite. They have not even followed the guidelines\nissued by Ramaphosa\u2019s ministers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 26 March, Patricia De Lille,\nMinister of Public Works and Infrastructure issued a Ministerial Directive\nconcerning EPWP workers. All EPWP workers ultimately fall under the\njurisdiction of the national department. The Directive was sent to \u201call<\/em><\/strong> national, provincial<\/strong> and local government public bodies<\/em>\u201d. It applies to\nthe Gauteng DID\u2019s EPWP workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Directive says that EPWP\nemployers are \u201crequired<\/em><\/strong>\u201d to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ensure that salary of all EPWP workers that have employment contracts that are active for the period 27 March 2020 to 16 April 2020 or any part thereof<\/strong>; is paid<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

On 27 March all of the Gauteng\nDID\u2019s EPWP workers were still employed. The department has clearly breached a\nMinisterial Directive by withholding the April stipends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 17 April the CEO of miner\nImpala Platinum appeared in court charged with contravening the regulations of\nthe State of Disaster by prematurely re-calling 6,000 workers during the\nlockdown. We demand that the Gauteng DID is placed in the dock too. De Lille\u2019s\nMinisterial Directive was issued by invoking the provisions of the Disaster\nManagement Act. By ignoring the Directive the DID is also in contravention of\nthe act. The MEC, the HOD and DDGs should be arrested and charged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We demand:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Arrest and charge the Gauteng DID\u2019s leadership<\/li>
  • Immediate payment of the April stipends<\/li>
  • Distribution of food parcels to EPWP workers\u2019\nhouseholds<\/li>
  • Moratorium on the cancellation of EPWP workers\u2019\ncontracts for the duration of the State of Disaster and the re-opening of\nnegotiations as soon as it is lifted<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The world and the country is in\nturmoil. But the EPWP workers\u2019 struggle has not ended! Mass action will resume\nas soon as workers decide it is safe to do so!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    WORKERS ARE COMING BACK FOR WHAT IS THEIRS – PERMANENT JOBS AND R12,500\nPER MONTH!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On Friday a top police official warned\nthat social unrest is looming over food supplies. Many media commentators are\nalso warning the same. The action of the ANC-run Gauteng government is leaving\nworkers few options. Starvation is 100% guaranteed to kill. However, it is\npossible to survive coronavirus and bullets can be dodged. We were told that\nthe State of Disaster was meant to protect workers from the virus. The ANC\ngovernment\u2019s anti-working class policies are turning an increasingly brutal\narmy and police into instruments for the enforcement of starvation. It is\nplacing before the masses the choice of dying under a hail of SANDF bullets or\ndying from hunger. Let this government be warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Originally published as a Gauteng EPWP Workers Forum statement.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The 5,000 EPWP workers falling under Gauteng\u2019s Department of Infrastructure Development have not received their April stipends. <\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-epwp","category-workplace-struggle"],"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1234"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1237,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234\/revisions\/1237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}