Municipal workers and Communities protest over service delivery
The South African Municipal Workers' Union (SAMWU) and a number of community organisations will be marching to the City of Cape Town on Thursday 05 July 2012, to protest against poor service delivery and the Mayor's Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) contracts.
"It is our view that the issue of quality jobs cannot be separated from quality services. It is no mystery why there are a number of service delivery protests taking place across the province and the city. Part of the problem is the lack of Local Government employing enough workers to ensure quality services are delivered to our poor communities." Said Mario Jacobs, Samwu Cape Metro Regional Secretary.
On the 29th of February this year, in her address to Council, Mayor de Lille mentioned that the city has been able to create 10 339 job opportunities as part of her Special Job Creation Programme. A permanent Council worker receives +/- R240 per day where as an EPWP worker receives R60 per day.
Andre Adams, SAMWU's Western Cape Provincial Secretary responded that "De Lille has blatantly lied to the residents of Cape Town all in the name of political populism. The DA's announcement of Job creation within the City of Cape Town is fake. It is nothing but a political trick and a shameful exploitation of the poor who are desperate for work and are prepared to work for peanuts. This amounts to nothing more than using the poor as cheap labour and can be seen as slavery."
The planned march is taking place at 10:00am from Keizergracht and shall proceed to the civic centre where a memorandum of demands shall be received by the deputy city manager, Mike Mardsen.
Statement issued by SAMWU's Cape Metro Regional Secretary, Mario Jacobs, July 3 2012
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