Wallacedene residents slam City of Cape Town for lack of inclusivity in EPWP hiring process
|Published
Residents took to the streets earlier this week to demonstrate against the City by burning tyres and emptying overflowing rubbish in the streets. Picture: Supplied
Cape Town - Residents living in informal settlements surrounding Wallacedene in Kraaifontein are accusing their local municipality of allegedly rigging the Expanded Public Works Programme’s (EPWP) hiring process, which has resulted in them not getting a chance to be employed.
This after community leaders, the City and other stakeholders met to discuss the residents' concerns regarding the hiring process of Solid Waste EPWP workers, after which the City allegedly withdrew its involvement in efforts to resolve the issue, according to community leaders from the area.
Enraged by the development, residents took to the streets earlier this week to demonstrate against the City by burning tyres and emptying overflowing rubbish in the streets.
Wallacedene Development Forum secretary Masilakhe “Benni” Ngqebe said residents were upset with the City for continuing to use a system that is not working for everyone’s benefit, and for seemingly back-tracking on a resolution all involved stakeholders had come up with to resolve the situation.
“Last week, we hosted a meeting with the City, the waste company it works with, the office of the local councillor and community committees representing the residents. In the meeting, we tabled why residents were not happy with the City’s EPWP hiring process.
“The City said that it uses the process of randomisation, but had been struggling to get other names on its system, which is why it opted to renew the contracts of existing employees,” Ngqebe said.
“If I’m being honest, we don’t believe that. However, for the sake of the residents we chose to rather come up with a solution than fixate on that.
“We agreed that the City would bring more employment forms that residents would then fill out so they can be added to the database and the system could be run again,” he said.
However, on Monday Ngqebe said the City had backtracked on the plan.
“It’s understandable why residents were upset hearing this because the City is not being honest here nor is it doing things according to the correct ‘procedures’. Its policy states that after six months new workers must be employed, but instead, it keeps renewing the same contracts monthly,” Ngqebe said.
Wallacedene councillor Siviwe Nodliwa said: “I tried to engage with the City to resolve the issue because everyone living here is affected by what’s happening, but I was told the City would follow its set process of selecting EPWP workers randomly.
“I’m not arguing against that,” said Nodliwa. “My point was that the longer this issue is not resolved, the longer the community does not get service delivery. I think for this instance the City should make an exception and deviate from its set system.”
The Cape Argus approached the City for comment, however, the City said it needed more time to respond.
City spokesperson Luthando Tyhalibongo said: “The City is looking into the particulars of this matter. We will respond soon.”