Bay way behind on public works appointments

Unrealistic targets and inherited issues blamed after EPWP funding decreased

WHILE thousands of unemployed Nelson Mandela Bay residents battle to find work, bureaucratic bungles have cost people jobs over the past year and a half.

Between July 2015 and June last year, the municipality was given money from the national government to create 15 182 permanent and temporary jobs.

Only 2 309 Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) workers were hired during the period.

This, as the latest available unemployment figures show 33% of residents do not have jobs.

The municipality has defended the under-performance, saying the targets – which were set by the Department of Public Works – were unrealistic.

It said the funding given to the city by the department did not correlate with the number of jobs it was expected to create.

Economic development, tourism and agriculture executive director Anele Qaba said a “protocol” agreement signed by then mayor Ben Fihla with Public Works made it difficult for the city to review the targets that were set.

“Institutional targets were set too high by Public Works.

“At the time of signing the agreement, the city did not apply its mind to see if those targets were achievable with the funding allocated,” Qaba said.

Qaba’s department only recently took over the EPWP in the Bay. It was previously managed by the public health department.

He said that in the last financial year, the city received R8.6-million for EPWP jobs and the figure dropped slightly to R8.4-million in the current year due to the under-performance.

“If Public Works says we must create 12 000 jobs, it is impossible to reach that target with R8-million. That is why we are deemed as under-performing.”

But Qaba said the city was also at fault for not spending its capital budget, where most EPWP projects were created.

“If we don’t spend our capital budget, we will not be able to create general work under EPWP, for example,” he said.

“Staff shortages and officials not grasping the reporting format are other problems.”

In the annual report, the municipality explained the underperformance: “[There were] insufficient and/or non-compliant supporting documents being provided by directorates.”

Six months into the current financial year, the municipality fell short of its mid-year targets by hiring 2 467 people instead of the 3 562 it had planned to.

Qaba said: “We investigated all the elements that negatively affect the EPWP performance and we have developed a turnaround plan to address shortcomings.”

The report said the public health department also paid workers below the prescribed minimum wage of R83 a day determined by the Public Works Ministry.

Deputy mayor and public health portfolio head Mongameli Bobani said they would push to ensure officials met the set targets before June this year

“We are not in support of jobs not being created for our people. Unemployment is a problem and we said we will deal with it before we came into power,” he said.

“The issues in the annual report are things we inherited [from the ANC government]. We are currently investigating the reasons as to why the targets are not met on EPWP.”

On not paying the prescribed minimum wage, Bobani said workers were paid R72 a day, determined by the Department of Labour. “We are in a process of complying with the EPWP determination.”