Jozi@Work replacement won’t ‘kill jobs’, says Mayor Mashaba

03 May 2017

 

The City of Johannesburg will soon announce a new model to replace Jozi@Work, an empowerment and job-creation programme Executive Mayor Herman Mashaba discontinued earlier this year, a move that sparked several marches and violent protests.

 

Delivering his maiden State of the City Address (SOCA) at the R360-million new council chamber at the Metro Centre in Braamfontein today (Wednesday May 3), Mayor Mashaba said he was unperturbed by the violent reactions that followed his decision to can the programme.

 

“You see, this programme was a wolf in a sheep’s clothing. In principle, co-opt programmes that marry service delivery objectives with work opportunities are a good principle. But, like so many other good principles, the Jozi@Work programme had a dark underworld,” Mashaba said.

 

He said the programme resulted in middlemen being awarded multimillion-rand contracts to run the projects. These “overnight millionaires”, Mashaba said, also selected people to benefit from the work opportunities.

 

“Somewhere in the middle of this mess, in some cases, were ward councillors, ready and waiting to assist. They had no official indigent list to work off. So, I ask, on what basis do you think people got chosen?”

 

The Mayor said the new model to be introduced soon would cut out the middlemen.

 

“[It will allow] us to engage the services of more people seeking work opportunities. Work opportunities will be fairly allocated on a rotational basis off a legitimate indigent register. The only basis for one’s placement on this list will be socioeconomic criteria,” he said.

 

He denied the move would “kill work opportunities”.

 

“Instead, it will increase the number of people who can fairly benefit from these temporary work opportunities,” the Mayor concluded.