GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - The saga concerning the sudden dismissal of the Dr Beyers Naudé Municipality's CWP workers aged between 55 and 60 still drags on.
After the initial termination of their contracts in December last year, Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Velenkosini Hlabisa gave the assurance that their contracts would be reinstated until the original contractual end date of 31 March this year.
However, this year the workers were instructed to leave the site until further notice.
This prompted Councillor Eldrige Ruiters last week to write to Hlabisa to request clarity on the reasons for the instruction that they leave the site until further notice.
Ruiters expressed his dissatisfaction with how the instruction to leave was communicated.
"The instruction was given to the supervisor via a WhatsApp voice note and verbally to participants," he said. "This is not how you treat people.
"CWP may be viewed as a low-level programme by Cogta and the implementing agents, but participants must be treated with respect."
He further stated that CWP implementing agents have an obligation to manage the programme professionally, particularly since they have already been paid R33m in project management fees over a six-month period. In this regard, he requested that all future communication of this nature be issued in writing.
According to Ruiters, this instruction has caused significant confusion in communities, as there has been no further communication from the minister since the announcement that CWP participants' contracts would be reinstated.
For this reason, he is seeking confirmation on the status of these workers. He requested the Graaff-Reinet site office to issue this instruction in writing so that further enquiries could be made at the national level, but to no avail.
Therefore, he urged the minister to confirm whether participants between the ages of 55 and 60 are required to report for work or not.
Ruiters assured participants that the matter is being addressed and that they will be kept informed of all developments. He also guaranteed that they will be paid for the days they were instructed not to be at work.
‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’
