Pensioners dropped from Community Works Programme

Sipho Festile (left) and Mbulelo Jacobs signed forms on Monday to exit the Community Works Programme. Photo: Thamsanqa Mbovane

• The Department of Cooperative Governance has decided to terminate contracts of Community Works Programme workers who are also getting old age grants.
• The department announced at the weekend that CWP workers who also receive old age grants would no longer be part of the programme, so that resources could be redirected to those who rely only on the CWP programme for a living.
• A verification exercise conducted with the SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) had found that about 35,000 people in the CWP were also getting old age grants.

Sipho Festile, 64, from KwaNobuhle in Kariega in the Eastern Cape, had to stop working as a Community Works Programme worker this week, after 10 years. He is one of 35,000 people aged 60 and older affected by a decision by the Department of Cooperative Governance to terminate their contracts.

The Department announced on Sunday that CWP workers who also receive old age grants will no longer be part of the programme, so that resources could be redirected to those who rely only on the CWP programme for a living. The department said their last working day was Friday 16 August and their final stipend would be paid at the end of September.

Festile, who has been working for CWP as a storekeeper since 2014, earning R2,700 a month, also earns a SASSA grant of R2,050. He says he works for 20 days a month, guarding tools such as spades, wheelbarrows, and workers’ uniforms.

“We have been fired overnight due to age discrimination,” Festile said. He said the department should have given notice of this decision. “How am I going to pay my furniture and clothing accounts in shops?” he asked.

“I have three children a boy aged 11 and two girls, ages 13 and 17. They all depended on me but now it will be difficult feeding them,” he said. “My wife is unemployed and has not reached her old age yet. She is 54.”

Another pensioner, Mbulelo Jacobs, 61, also from KwaNobuhle, said he received notice that he would have to exit the programme a week ago. “My question is why did they not give us time to prepare to exit?”

Jacobs said he had been earning R960 a month.

Thobile Kume, a supervisor in the CWP programme, said he had been told some time ago that people would have to exit the programme at 60. “I have six workers on my site whom I have given exit forms to. There are five women and one man. They want us to talk to the management to give them a chance to end work in December, at least. However, this is a national decision and it is beyond our control.”

Co-operative Governance department spokesperson Legadima Leso said on Tuesday that a verification exercise conducted with the SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) had found that about 35,000 people in the CWP were also getting old age grants.

“Given the unemployment rate and poverty levels in the country, this situation has been identified as double-dipping, where these participants receive both a CWP stipend and an old age grant, while many other citizens receive no such support,” said Leso.

“To address this issue and in compliance with regulations governing the distribution of public funds, the Department of Cooperative Governance has made the difficult decision to terminate the contracts of the affected CWP participants.

“The department extends its gratitude to all CWP participants for their dedicated service and encourages them to continue contributing to their communities in other capacities,” he said.

The president of the Maanda Ashu Workers Union of South Africa (MAWUSA), Robert Nwedo, and general secretary Velaphi Ndaba have written to Cooperative Governance Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa criticising the decision. They say it is not supported by policy and amounts to age discrimination.

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