Zuma to address Gauteng workers
GAUTENG - The march to Pretoria by members of the Community Works Programme in Johannesburg last month, seems to have yielded good results.
President Jacob Zuma is expected in Gauteng sometime next month to address more than 20 000 members of the Community Works Programme who are disgruntled with the way the programme is being run.
Last month, members of the programme in Johannesburg marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to hand over a memorandum of grievances to the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Ministry, which oversees the day-to-day running of the programme through various agencies.
The programme, which is a poverty alleviation entity of government, has irked members in Johannesburg who are dissatisfied with the manner in which it is being run, claiming that it was run by a “cartel of family” members who do not understand the ideals of the programme.
“This is a programme for the poor and some of us are going for months on end without our salaries, no work equipment such as gloves, uniforms, plastics and many more items that we use on a daily basis in the performance of our duties,” said the programme’s public relations officer George Rangwanasha.
Among the duties of the programme members is to clean public places and care for HIV/Aids- infected people in the communities. Rangwanasha said a date, time and venue for the President’s visit had not been finalised but he was expected in Gauteng in August.
A team of officials from the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs will meet with Region E members of the programme in Alexandra on 1 August to “iron out the differences” before the big meeting with Zuma.
