Hundreds of workers from the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) marched to the Department of Public Works headquarters in Pretoria yesterday, alleging unlawful contract terminations and the non-payment of wages dating back to 2022.
The protest was led by the Maanda Ashu Workers Union of South Africa (MAWUSA), which delivered a strongly-worded memorandum of demands. The union’s president, Robert Nwedo, was present and addressed the gathering, levelling serious allegations against departmental officials.
At the heart of the dispute is the Community Work Programme (CWP), a component of the EPWP. Nwedo accused officials within the department’s corporate governance division of being “inhuman” and “brutal” in their management of the program.
A primary grievance is the recent termination of contracts for workers over 60 years of age. Nwedo claimed these dismissals, which affected thousands nationwide, were done without valid reason or proper consultation.
“The policy allowed them to be in the program because the program itself was established to make sure that it eradicate poverty,” Nwedo stated. “The most painful part of this decision was that there was no proper consultation and then they were just being terminated without even at least given gratuity.”
Compounding the issue, Nwedo alleged that a majority of the over 20,000 terminated workers are still owed outstanding wages by the department. “How do you expel or dismiss somebody that you still owe?” he asked.
The union is also demanding permanent positions for long-serving workers and a wage that meets the national minimum wage. Nwedo claimed that many EPWP workers earn approximately R1,000 per month, which is below the national poverty line.
“We are tired, enough is enough,” Nwedo said. “The primary objective of establishing this program was to make sure people are getting empowered. But instead of empowering these poor black people, they are disempowering them completely.”
He further questioned the ethos of the program, asking, “Did they establish this program EPWP so that they must make our black people slavery? Not in our time. It is not right.”
The march underscores growing frustration with the implementation of the EPWP, a government initiative designed to provide poverty relief and temporary work. The Maanda Ashu Workers Union has stated that previous attempts to resolve these issues with the department of corporate governance were unsuccessful, leading them to take their demands directly to the national Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.
The department has yet to issue a public response to the memorandum or the allegations made during the protest.