Workers from the Lungile Mtshali Project protested outside the Germiston Council Chambers during the Ekurhuleni council meeting on Thursday morning last week.
According to the group leaders, the demonstration comes after the demands in their memorandum, which they submitted to the MMC for Corporate Services, Clr Queen Duba, were not responded to.
The memo was submitted on June 17.
Just a month ago, members of the Peace Corps project also protested on the morning of the budget speech on May 28. The peace corps were unhappy about, among other issues, their contracts coming to an end, and wanted the metro to deploy them into various departments.
The MMC was supposed to meet with the workers on Wednesday last week to respond to their memo but the meeting was postponed to June 30.
”We were only told at 11.15am yesterday that the MMC cancelled our meeting, which was supposed to start at 12-noon,” said one of the leaders, who asked to remain anonymous.
Apparently no explanation for the postponement was provided to the workers.
Members from various wards joined the protest, including those from Tembisa, Daveyton and Etwatwa.
The demands in the memorandum included permanent jobs, proper management, a solid skills programme and an increase in their stipend.
Ruth Nkosi from the Etwatwa ward said they were hired on a three-year contract, which would be renewed yearly. The programme began in February last year.
”We renewed the contracts in March this year, during which we were promised training for four months, but we haven’t received one day of that training yet,” Nkosi said.
”Our contracts stated that during phase one of the contract (one year) we would receive six months of learning, followed by another six months of field work. But none of this happened.”
Mayoral spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini, said a mayoral committee meeting would be held on June 30, where various issues would be deliberated on, including the Lungile Mtshali Project.
“A task team has been set up with MMC Duba and the workers’ grievances will be addressed. As soon as procedures are completed and a solution has been identified, the MMC will give feedback to the employees about the way forward,” Dlamini said.
The Lungile Mtshali Community Development Project is a ward-based job creation programme in honour of the late MMC for finance, Clr Lungile Mtshali, who died in 2010.
Since its launch in February last year, R1-million a year had been allocated to each of the 101 wards in Ekurhuleni to employ 30 ward-based unemployed residents for the purpose of uplifting the community and fighting poverty in the region.
