By Khanysile Makhathini
As an EPWP worker, I’m sure I also speak on behalf of all expanded public works programmes (EPWPs) that work under the Department of Health in all the districts.
EPWPs have been a great initiative that was meant to last a year as a rotational system but, due to the fact that most EPWP staffers excelled and exceeded expectations by working hard in the clinics and hospitals they were placed at, their contracts were renewed and extended every year.
They worked tirelessly and gave their best performances because they were and are passionate about giving great service to their communities and the Department of Health.
The department was so impressed with the EPWP workers that it agreed to remove them from the NGOs, granting them a symbol of hope that they would surely be absorbed, be rewarded for their hard work, their best efforts, their diligence.
After 9 years, 8 years and 4 years – and so forth of receiving a stipend – the department gave them hope that they would finally have a secure job, a safety net, permanent positions.
The past two years has been the hardest with the Covid-19 pandemic. The EPWP workers risked everything. Like the warriors they are, they fought hard during the pandemic. They lost their colleagues, they buried their colleagues, watched lives being lost in front of their eyes.
As the frontliners as well, they gave hope by fighting the pandemic alongside the clinicians, the managers, even on behalf of the government and the whole Department of Health. Not once did they give up, even under extreme conditions where lives were lost.
All the EPWP workers are asking for are permanent positions.
We appeal to the management of the Department of Health to heed the outcry of the EPWP workers and grant them permanent positions, to keep serving the Department of Health and their communities.
Granting the EPWP workers permanent positions will be a win-win as the department will have dedicated, hard workers who serve the communities.
The Star