Pretoria News reports that frustrated members of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) staged a sit in at the offices of the Independent Development Trust (IDT) on Thursday.  

The National United NPOs of SA (Nunsa) led the group that is seeking to convince the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPW&I) to resume the EPWP programme, which has been halted since March.  Nunsa secretary Luthando Kolwati said the group represented 360 non-profit organisations and 50,000 workers who have been sitting at home since the programme was stopped but who have contracts that only expired in March 2021.  He said the group were leaders from across the country who decided to make the stop at the IDT offices ahead of protest action outside the DPW&I on Friday.  He pointed out that the IDT was the implementing agency that recorded their work in respect of the EPWP, but the DPW&I was the authority that gave a mandate and budget.  Kolwati commented:  "The problem for us is that this is now affecting so many people, many of whom have not been working and able to feed their families.  However, those people are sitting at home with valid contracts while they could be working already at level one of the lockdown.  President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the Expanded Public Works Programme would be extended but as we speak many of the workers are still not working because of the differences between the two departments.”

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by James Mahlokwane at Pretoria News

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