By Anita Dangazele
Hundreds of people rushed to the city hall in Nelson Mandela Bay to apply for 150 Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) jobs on Thursday.
The rush came just a day after the EPWP celebrated its 20th anniversary in the Eastern Cape.
The Department of Public Works used the city hall to hand out and collect application forms from people hoping to get jobs as cleaners at two Gqeberha magistrate’s courts and the state attorney’s office.
Some applicants even slept outside the city hall, with some arriving as early as midnight, hoping to be the first to hand in their application forms.
On Thursday morning officials struggled to contain the crowd.
An official who was handing out application forms allegedly threw the forms up in the air and ran back inside the city hall.
Desperate job seekers scrambled to pick up the forms from the ground, shoving and pushing each other and breaking the railing outside the city hall in the rush.
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) mayor Gary van Niekerk confirmed the chaotic scenes but distanced the municipality from the events of the day.
“Our interaction with the Department was limited to that of a venue provider. We were not party to any planning discussions or processes,” said the mayor.
“Due to an oversubscription of applicants pitching up at the city hall and a degree of unrest, a section of the railing was pushed over. Our metro police restored order and the recruitment drive was stopped.”
National public works spokesperson Bukiwe Cimela could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
Just the day before, President Cyril Ramaphosa launched a fifth phase of the EPWP programme which promises to provide five million job opportunities in the next five years.
The programme was launched in the Eastern Province, which has the highest adult unemployment rate at 42%.
The advert said that those selected would receive a stipend of R6,182 a month, while supervisors would earn R7,278.
Pictured above: Hundreds of desperate job seekers outside the Nelson Mandela Bay city hall on Thursday.
Image source: Facebook
