GroundUp reports that hundreds of retrenched Presidential Employment Programme (PEP) workers attempted to storm the Durban City Hall in a protest on Wednesday.

They were demanding that their contracts be reinstated by the eThekwini municipality after the programme was abruptly terminated on Sunday. Some of the PEP workers who had been absorbed by various non-government organisations (NGOs) in September also had their contracts terminated. In early October, eThekwini municipality announced that it had run out of funds due to budget revisions by national Treasury. The programme was announced as part of the president’s stimulus package in October 2022. According to the workers’ memorandum, eThekwini had promised some of them employment for six months. But soon after signing, they were told the municipality had insufficient funds to continue the programme and were moved to NGOs contracted by the City. Mayoral advisor Mlungisie Ntombela came out to accept the memorandum. He said that some of the issues had already been discussed during a council meeting on 31 October and they hoped that Treasury would fund the programme again. Ntombela promised that the mayor would meet the protest leaders on Friday because there were “plans in the pipeline” to find a solution.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tsoanelo Sefoloko at GroundUp

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