Battle over stipends in public works programme

Bambanani’s school safety marshals who work in most of Khayelitsha, Nyanga and Gugulethu’s gang-ridden schools, handed over a memorandum on 26 September to the MEC of Community and Safety.

In the memorandum the workers demanded an increase from R70 to R250 a day, medical aid benefits and maternity leave.

Luyanda Krweqe is an organiser at Bambanani. He has been working for the organisation for almost ten years. He says they are unhappy with their working conditions.

“We earn R70 a day and get R700 to R1,050 a month because we work 10 to 15 days a month. We have people that have been working here for over ten years and they are still treated as volunteers. We want to be permanent.”

“Last year after we had two protests they increased our wages by just R4,” said Krweqe.

Workers have also complained of wages not being paid on time, claiming that they sometimes went for two months without being paid and were not paid arrears.

“We work under dangerous circumstances. We are at risk of getting stabbed. We confiscate knives every day in these schools. But at the end of the month we have nothing to show for it. If I were to get stabbed, who would pay my medical bills?” said Krweqe.

“We do this job because we want to make the schools safe for our children. We dodge knives here but we have nothing to show for it. I left my child after three days just for R1,000 a month,” says Mboneli.

Up until 2006, there was no stipend. People who worked for Bambanani were strictly volunteers. Yandisa Mboneli says she joined Bambanani as a volunteer before the stipend was introduced. “Last year I was pregnant and I worked till the day I had labour pains and had to go give birth. I only stayed home for three days. Then they called me saying if I don’t come to work I will get fired.”

The protesters gave the department seven days from 26 September to reply to their memorandum. However they have not yet received a response.

Spokesperson for the Minister of Community and Safety, Ewald Botha, says the school safety marshals fell under the School Safety Project. This was implemented under the national government’s Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) which did not guarantee permanent employment.

Botha says, “The Department is in the process of forming partnerships with school governing bodies to transfer the local management of the school safety marshals.

“The Department of Community Safety is paying the School Safety Marshals using the Provincial Incentive Grant from Treasury allocated for EPWP projects and is not in the position to increase the stipend as the main focus is training and provision of resources,” said Botha.