Presidential programme employees protest after job losses

On Wednesday (October 25) hundreds of retrenched Presidential Employment Programme (PEP) employees marched to Durban City Hall in protest. The protesters threatened to disrupt the upcoming elections if they were not rehired.

Earlier this month more than 3 000 people lost their jobs due to ongoing government-wide budgetary constraints. The eThekwini Municipality has had to terminate PEP due to the lack of funding. The programme was created to bring down the high rate of unemployment in the country and it was part of the presidential stimulus package.

PEP was in its third year of implementation when it was terminated. More than 6 000 beneficiaries were part of the programme, the services of 3 541 people were terminated. The employees only found out about the termination when they showed up for work on October 9. The workers were served with termination letters from the economic development and planning cluster. They were informed that they would be paid for the days they worked at the end of the month.

Yesterday frustrated protesters said they had not been fully paid for the work they had done before their service was terminated. This was despite that they were reassured that their outstanding wages would be paid at the next salary run on October 25. Many former employees claimed they were paid far less than they were expecting.

One of the letters, which was directed at Thabani Nyawose, the speaker of eThekwini Municipality, the employees said their salaries are still short by R2 000. They also said their contract was cut without any warning, as such, they should be given a 30-day notice and allowed to claim from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF). Also, in the letter they warned that they would disrupt the upcoming elections if they were not rehired.

“We would like to put it on record that a letter was submitted, there would be serious repercussions that would have negative outcomes on the elections since PEP workers lost their jobs,” the letter said.

The municipality said they would explore all possibilities so that the programme can be restarted as soon as possible. This includes engaging with the National Treasury to request for additional budget.