DWS concerned over Emfuleni Water Projects stoppage due to community demands for permanent employment
The Department of Water and Sanitation’s Sedibeng Regional Sewer Scheme continues to face serious challenges of work stoppages as a result of local community members’ demands for permanent employment.
Empowered by Sections 63 and 73 of the Water Services Act, the Department has intervened through the project to provide short-term interventions to deal with a number of challenges, chief of which is the protracted sewer spillages into the Vaal River and within the community.
To accommodate the local community in the intervention project, the Department was to create 600 employment opportunities. Of the 600 employment opportunities, 300 people are already working and their six months’ contracts are due to come to an end. However, they demanded permanent employment, which the Department was unable to guarantee.
In light of this, the project has since been temporarily stopped to protect members of the community and the contractors as the situation remains volatile and unpredictable.
The Department wishes to reaffirm its commitment to working cooperatively with all relevant stakeholders and to ensure the intervention work continues in an environment that is free from anarchy which could result in fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
For more information, contact:
Sputnik Ratau
082 874 2942 or
Hosia Sithole
082 723 2442.
