Homeless claim Jesus Saves ‘enslaves’ them
WORKERS of the Straatwerk ministry projects, meant to uplift the destitute and desperate, allege they are being treated like slaves without being formally employed.
The Straatwerk ministry Jesus Saves project, an NGO that employs previously homeless people to carry out graffiti removal, removal of posters, drain cleaning and any other cleaning projects, said workers signed an agreement in which the project explicitly said it does not intend to offer employment or employment benefits.
Project manager Hannes van der Merwe said the initiative worked by an agreement of “I owe you nothing, you owe me nothing – a truly Christian principle of love”.
Tebogo Matsha said every morning more than 100 workers report for duty or line up to book “shifts” and receive R50 or R40 after every shift.
“One worker works on average more than minimum weekly working hours, yet we are told every day that we are not employees there.
“We are provided with uniforms, equipment and instructions, yet we are told that we are not employed. These projects are exploiting our rights as workers. There are people in the project who have been working from 2005 yet without a contract, no UIF.
“There is a strategy that they are using to enslave us without giving us contracts to show that we work there.
“They are aware that most of the employees there are not aware of their rights.”
Van der Merwe said the Straatwerk projects offered job rehabilitation for desperate people and for anybody who agreed to participate in these activities under the offered conditions through a signed agreement by each participant before they join the activities.
“Participants are daily reminded of this agreement and are constantly coached by, and encouraged with, principles and objectives in line with the agreement,” he said.
“The sole purpose of the initiative is to help desperate persons to find a way forward in life by proving themselves employable (which the project will verify by means of a reference, as standard practice) and, importantly, to survive in the meantime,” Van der Merwe added.
The Cape Town Central Improvement District (CCID), which works together with various NGOs like Straatwerk, makes available R700 000 per year from its Social Development budget for the project. lisa.isaacs@inl.co.za
@lisa_isaacs