VILLAGERS were shocked to see workers at a municipal project as they do not know how they were hired.
The villagers of Ga-Sekgopo outside Modjadjiskloof in Limpopo are now gatvol with their ward councillor after 12 people were hired for an Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) project allegedly without following proper procedure.
They believe that the workers were hired through corruption as no one knows how they were hired and the ward councillor is allegedly refusing to account.
“The same people are apparently getting hired on almost all municipal projects while those who have the same skills sit and idle at home. We should all get the same opportunities because we all want to put food on the table,” said a 36-year-old villager.
Others believed that the workers were hired through the back doors.
“Every time a municipal project comes to the village, an announcement would be made through a loudspeaker for villagers to gather where they would get hired. But that did not happen with this project,” said another villager (29).
The 12 workers have reportedly started working already. Villagers are now demanding that the ward councillor step down and for the hired people to stop working so that proper hiring procedure can be followed.
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Mopani Independent Movement district leader at the municipality, Julia Maluleke, said they want to know how the workers were hired.
“Where were they hired and which criteria was used to hire them? The process of hiring workers must be transparent for everyone because we all need jobs,” she said.
Greater Letaba municipal spokeswoman Lovers Mainetje said all information and recruitment process are supposed to be facilitated by the ward councillor.
She said wards have their own way of recruiting as per the agreement with the traditional council and the community.
“The EPWP policy clearly states that those prioritised must be from destitute families or child-headed households. If the families are needy or the people employed, then the councillor has the right together with the traditional leadership in that area to prioritise those people,” she said.
Daily Sun tried numerous times to reach the ward councillor but with no success.
