Women organise sleep-in protest over non-payment 

By Everson Luhanga

Several women claim not to have been paid in full by the Gauteng Department of Social Development for work on a school uniforms tender. 

The women, who have sewed and delivered school uniforms to vulnerable children across the province for years, accuse the department of ignoring them.

On Monday 6 May,  the women went to the department’s offices in Marshalltown, Johannesburg, and demanded to see the officials responsible for their plight.

They were not attended to for hours. The women slept on the hard chairs, insisting they would only leave the premises only when their concerns were addressed and the department paid them.

The Social Development school uniform project is one of the initiatives of the Bana Pele programme which the Gauteng premier announced on 21 February 2005. 

The service providers, mostly unemployed single mothers, had to go the extra mile to meet the tender procurement requirements. 

Some women borrowed money to buy sewing-machines to manufacture the uniforms, and some had to create new companies. They became the preferred suppliers of school uniforms.

The department has already delivered uniforms to 5,000 schoolchildren in 24 schools. 

However, it is now defaulting on payment, and officials are blaming each other for payment of the various companies owned by the women. 

Suppliers were required to deliver a school uniform pack consisting of a pair of shoes, a pair of socks, a jersey, a tunic/trousers/skirt (depending on the gender of the child and the uniform type of the school), a shirt, a vest, underwear and a bag.

After the department rolled out the 2022-23 programme, service providers were told by word of mouth that they should start supplying the packs. Two years into the programme, over 50 companies that had delivered on the department’s mandate have still not received a cent for their hard work.

Nokuthula Radebe, owner of Lapoloha Primary Cooperatives, is one of the people who has not been paid, and attended the sleep-in at the department’s offices.

Radebe, who travelled from Evaton in the Vaal, said the project was initially for women living with disabilities. However, it was put out to tender in 2022. 

“We fought for the project not to go to tender because, in the beginning, it was to be a project for women with disabilities in business. They used to give us 30% upfront and pay us the last 70% after we delivered,” she said.

However, they participated in the tender process and were successful.

“Now they are asking us who gave us the job. The MEC was on TV, showing the nation they deliver while they can’t pay us. We are looking for answers, but no one is giving us any. 

“They are now saying we must take them to court if we want. We don’t have money for courts and lawyers. We are stranded,” Radebe said. 

The Gauteng Department of Social Development, which is investigating the matter, admitted to corruption in the department. 

Department spokesperson Themba Hadebe said: “The Gauteng Department of Social Development notes the unfortunate occurrence of a group of individuals who came to the department, refusing to leave until they were paid. This occurrence is yet another display of the deep-rooted levels of corruption taking place in the department. 

“The individuals were hand-picked by officials to manufacture school uniforms, despite a tender being in place, for which successful service providers had been duly appointed.”

Pictured above: The uniforms being handed over. 

Image source: Supplied