In a distressing development for thousands across the nation, scores of community workers employed under the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) are set to lose their jobs as a result of stringent budget cuts.
A circular issued on December 24 by the director-general of the department, Mbulelo Tshangana, reveals that more than 225 000 community-based positions across all nine provinces are at risk due to a drastic reduction in funding from the National Treasury.
Just a day after Christmas, COGTA informed its Community Work Programme (CWP) employees aged 55 and above to not report for duty in the New Year due to budgetary constraints.
Tshangana’s communique outlines that these budgetary constraints, stemming from a broader set of austerity measures, have placed immense pressure on the department’s ability to manage its workforce effectively.
“The purpose of this circular is to inform all Community Work Programme participants (CWP), provincial CoGTA/DLG departments, Local Reference Committees, and stakeholders of the significant budget cuts imposed on the department by National Treasury for the 2024/2025 financial year, which have impacted CWP,” he stated.
The ramifications of these cuts are extensive. The department faces an uphill battle to maintain the current payments for stipends, provide necessary training, and procure essential tools and materials, including personal protective equipment (PPE), for the overwhelming number of workers.
“The department is already overspending, and this threatens the payment of stipends for February and March 2025,” Tshangana warned.
To manage the escalating financial strain, the department has made the difficult decision to terminate contracts for all CWP participants aged 55 and older, a move that is expected to reduce ongoing expenditures significantly.
“This situation has become impossible to manage,” Tshangana lamented, underscoring the urgency of the department’s intervention.
The circular provides a clear directive regarding the timing of these cuts: All CWP participants aged 55 years and older will see their contracts officially end on January 31, 2025.
A final payment for the affected participants is scheduled for January 25, meaning the last working day for these individuals was December 2024, and they should not report for duty in January.
As the job cuts loom, affected workers and communities are left grappling with uncertainty about the future. Many depend on their roles within the CWP for financial stability and personal fulfillment, and this sudden upheaval poses not just economic challenges, but emotional and social ones too.
In 2023, it was reported that these CWP workers, who are paid R960 for working eight days a month, complain that they are fired if they earn in addition more than R2 740 from other jobs.
The Star