Willie Maphosa, the council spokesperson, says the EPWP contract is standard for all contract workers because they are all general workers and the contract is a ministerial determination.
‘The general workers are currently paid R107.70 per day and supervisors earn R150 per day. We are not aware of anyone who is paid R 4 800. We call upon anyone who claims to know of this anomaly to bring it to our attention so we can follow it up.
‘We have also not received a letter or any other information from any employee informing us that they were going on maternity leave,’ he said.
According to Maphosa, EPWP workers are project workers contracted for a period of four months at the most. They are, therefore, not temporary workers as they claim. No one in the EPWP has ever been employed on a permanent basis unless they have applied for a vacant post within the municipality that was advertised and competed openly and on equal terms with all other candidates.
With regard to the UIF payments, he says the municipality has just finalised all the processes and will soon transfer money to the Department of Labour in this regard. UIF payments will then be made from there.
He said the municipality opted to pay the remuneration of EPWP workers through electronic transfers instead of cheques because it had to pay service fees for every cheque paid. This was an obvious cost-saving measure, he said.
‘As for EPWP workers who are injured on duty, all our employees are covered by the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA) and all injuries are treated as such.
‘It would be irresponsible for the municipality not to take care of the people under its employ, be they project workers, contract workers, temporary workers or even permanent workers.
‘The programme is managed through the ministerial special dispensation, No 34032 of 2011, which was adopted at Nedlac (the National Economic Development and Labour Council),’ he concluded.
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