MEC rubbishes DA’s ‘misleading’ claims
JOBURG – Democratic Alliance (DA) claims of a discord between the Gauteng department of infrastructure department (GDID) and the ANC’s MK military veterans in Gauteng are misleading and unfortunate, GDID MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza said.
DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Infrastructure, Alan Fuchs, had claimed that a hostile debate was taking place between the military veterans and the department regarding the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) to provide training and temporary jobs to veterans.
The department manages the programme and Fuchs claimed that 104 veterans were selected to attend training to provide security services for provincial government-owned buildings.
He stated, “While veterans claim GDID informed them that they were to be employed on a permanent basis, EPWP programme managers maintain that the programme did not provide permanent employment, and that their employment would come to an end.”
Fuchs added that, as a result, the veterans had called for the removal of the head of department of GDID.
He said the department had accused veterans of expecting payment without doing any work, complaining about being monitored at work, not signing attendance registers, refusing to perform allocated tasks, and of threatening GDID staff with physical violence.
Fuchs added that as a temporary measure the department had transferred some veterans to a different programme. “Tensions are unfortunately so heightened that the MK veterans may call on Premier David Makhura to intervene,” he said.
In response, Mayathula-Khoza said the GDID was making good progress with regards to relationship building with military veterans. “We are in consultation with military veterans as part of our plan to promote participation by all in our empowerment programmes for targeted groups.
“We are paying attention to the empowerment of military veterans because we are doing very well in our job creation programmes, and would like to add military veterans to our success stories.”
She said the department had convened several meetings with military veterans to understand their plight, and she was working with the Department of Military Veterans to fast track the registration of applicants onto the military veterans database.
“We hope to sign a memorandum of understanding with the military veterans by the end of June. Apart from procurement and long-term relationship plans, we hope to include our efforts of creating work for more than 120 military veterans this year,” Mayathula-Khoza concluded.
