Johannesburg - The Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) has dismissed reports that it is refusing to extend the contracts of more than 4 000 Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) contracts.
This week, the workers vowed to disrupt and sleep outside the provincial headquarters of the department on Wednesday, until their demands for contract extensions are met.
The affected employees have vowed to continue protesting as some of their contracts have come to an end as of today.
However, GDoH spokesperson Motalatale Modiba denied the accusations levelled against the department, saying the protesting employees were given one-year contracts.
He said the department was trying to clean up the system, which has been corrupted by those who failed to keep to the stipulations of the original contracts, resulting in some of the employees being engaged with the department for up to 10 years at a time.
“These are employees who were appointed on a 12-month basis as part of the EPWP. The contracts are ending at the end of March 2023 so that a new cohort can be contracted for the new financial year. Notice was given to the employees in January 2023 to remind them that the contracts are coming to an end as per the contract.
“EPWP is a national programme that gives people with only matric workplace experience and skills development. It is not meant to be permanent employment,” Modiba said.
However, on Wednesday and yesterday, scores of affected workers belonging to the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (Nupsaw) vowed to continue fighting for their rights to be considered for contract extensions and full-time employment.
When The Star arrived on Wednesday night and yesterday morning, the undeterred employees, some of them in wheelchairs and others walking on sticks, vowed that they would not move as they had been promised a contract extension following multiple engagements with Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi and the department.
Some of the members were covered in blankets, others were singing and chanting. Non-striking officials and workers from the various departments housed at the Life Centre building on Commissioner and Market streets were barred from accessing their workplace.
The union has accused the GDoH of reneging on its promise to extend the contracts of more than 4 000 workers whose contracts are allegedly coming to an end.
Nupsaw provincial organiser Austin Mofya said senior officials of the department, as well as Lesufi, had gone back on their earlier promises of extending the contracts of the workers, some of whom have been working as health-care assistants at various clinics and hospitals under the EPWP mandate for more than 15 years.
Mofya said the decision by the department to terminate the contracts of some of the workers was tantamount to exploitation by an uncaring department.
“This is a gathering emanating from the violation of the labour relations acts and exploitation by the department itself. This is not only a violation but shows ignorance about some of the critical things that have been addressed by the office of Premier Panyaza Lesufi but also by the MEC for Health and the chairperson of health,” he said.
“The issue here is that these EPWP workers have been employed by the department for many years on a contractual basis and on fixed-term contracts, but what is surprising is that the employment they gave them is not in line with the initial programmes...
“Some of these employees have been working contractually for 10 to 15 years, and now the department wants to throw them out like used tissues,” he said.
Kedibone Motaung, 56, who is one of the many workers who slept on the streets at the Life Centre building outside the departmental offices in Johannesburg on Wednesday night, spoke to The Star yesterday of the pain and suffering of sleeping on the streets on an autumn night.
“The department does not care. We are fighting for our jobs. Some of us have been here for many years, working for R3 500 as EPWP workers. I personally have been working for over 15 years for R3 500.”
“The department is exploiting us while their children live in comfort. We are tired, and all we are asking for is for our contracts to be extended and for some of us to be made permanent,” said Motaung.
The Star