DURBAN - KWAZULU-NATAL Department of Arts and Culture (DoAC) says claims that the ward-based Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) volunteers are sitting at home without a management plan are not true.
The department says it is working on ways to improve this programme to benefit a considerably greater number of arts practitioners in the future.
The department was responding to claims by the DA that Cultural Creative Industries (CCI) volunteers within KZN’s DoAC EPWP programme were being paid a stipend despite sitting at home.
The party alleged that the employees have not done any work since December 2021, and to date the department has spent more than R5 million on the programme.
“Despite this there is little, if anything, to show for it, and it appears that this is just another tick-box exercise by the DoAC to try to illustrate that it is implementing EPWP programmes,” said DA KZN spokesperson on Arts and Culture, Bradley Singh.
“The DA has furthermore been advised that there is no management plan or programme of action for these volunteer workers, despite more than 300 youths from various districts having attended an induction programme in December 2021 and January this year,” Singh said.
The DA said as part of their duties, the youths were meant to assist KZN ward councillors, and use their artistic ability to conduct training sessions within communities in areas such as music, drama, acting and other arts.
“Today, these young people are sitting at home and doing nothing. Their current six-month contract, which ends in May/June 2022, will soon be renewed for reporting purposes by the DoAC so it can claim to have created job opportunities,” said Singh.
DoAC spokesperson Phathisa Mfuyo said there were over 261 wardbased volunteers that the department had recruited, and they assisted with improving the department’s work at the local level. Mfuyo added that there was nothing sinister about them being locally based, as the district development model recommended this.
“The department successfully hosted multiple Arts Alive programmes with the assistance of these ward-based volunteers, and it is mischievous to suggest that they are sitting at home doing nothing.”
Mfuyo said unfortunately the stipend paid for by the department was not sufficient to allow them to travel beyond their area of residency.
“Each volunteer is paid a stipend of R2 800 a month, and they have a short, six-month contract,” said Mfuyo.
“Volunteers report to district officials, who screen their reports and engage with them. The volunteers were also introduced to various wardbased war rooms.”
Mfuyo added that by introducing ward-based programmes such as this one, the department has connected rural artists with well-established commercial centres where they have showcased their work.
“This database would not have improved if we had not initiated a ward-based programme.”
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