COSATU 'concerned' as COGTA to cut 67,000 people from Community Work Programme

JOHANNESBURG - Temporary employment for at least 67,000 people will end when the national Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) terminates the contracts of Community Work Programme (CWP) beneficiaries older than 55.
 
COGTA recently announced that due to budget cuts, it would be releasing CWP workers that were 55 and older.
 
The CWP is a government initiative providing temporary employment for people of working age while they search for permanent jobs.
 
Trade union federation, COSATU, said it was engaging with the department in a bid to reverse this decision.
 
The COGTA department said that the decision to cut people from the Community Work Programme was a necessary decision due to financial pressures. 
 
COSATU recently met with the department in a bid to find a solution to the issue. 
 
Union spokesperson, Matthew Parks, said that the country could not afford to cut back on its public employment programmes when it had a high rate of unemployment. 
 
"We are quite concerned, we have an unemployment rate of 41.9% and if you exit people from these programmes, they are not likely to find jobs elsewhere. At the time to target people who are 55 years and above, those who are under 60 years of age don't qualify for the old age grant, so what exactly are you offering them?"
 
The affected workers will be paid their last salaries on 25 January.