Learners participating in a government programme to learn to repair roads say they have not received the stipends they were promised.

According to some of the learners from Khutsong South, young people from all over the Merafong City Local Municipality were recruited by their ward councillors to take part in the programme, which aims to develop young people with technical and practical skills.

Once they completed all the training, the young participants could earn national certificates in a Roadworks NQF Level 3 Skills programme or a Construction Contracting Level 2 programme. The plan with this was to have young people know the correct way to fill potholes.

The programme started on August 1, and documents given to the learners stipulated that they would receive their first of three R2 000 stipends after 30 working days.

Despite this, students say that they only received between R380 to R800 in the first month.

“No one got above R1 000 and many received nothing,” said one of the learners.

They say the problems seem to stem from the fact that the electronic devices used to capture their attendance at the training continued to have signal and data issues. Although the learners then had to complete attendance register papers and send them through to the organisers, this was also not captured properly.

Problem was ‘never rectified’

“When we first did not get full payment, we asked how our stipends were calculated, but they refused to show us. We then contacted our councillors, who helped and communicated with the organisers. They then said that the matter would be rectified in the following months, but it never was,” said one of the learners, Bongane Khoza (30).

“As we are unemployed, we really need the money,” another learner complained.

A total of 32 learners from Khutsong South were affected, but other areas, such as Khutsong, had many more.

Although the Herald contacted the Merafong City Local Municipality about the issue as they recruited the learners, no answers were received.