The Public Servants Association (PSA) in KwaZulu Natal has demanded the provincial government fill thousands of social vacant positions without delay and pledged to the calls for the immediate placement of unemployed social workers in the province.
The association stated on Wednesday following a peaceful protest by unemployed social workers and teachers who camped outside the premier’s office and the Department of Education building, demanding employment on Tuesday last week.
Among the concerns raised by the unemployed social workers in KZN, spokesperson Noluthando Ndlovu said they had had countless meetings with the Department of Social Development. However, they were told that the department does not have funds to employ them.
The PSA said the department’s failure since 2013 to employ social workers had resulted in an alarming increase in unattended cases of gender-based violence, drug abuse, suicide, and the abuse and murder of women and children.
“The situation has reached crisis level, where currently employed social workers are overwhelmed and unable to cope with the growing demand for service.
“The PSA thus applauds the decision on August 14, 2024, by the KwaZulu-Natal Cabinet, under the leadership of Premier Thami Ntuli, to engage directly with unemployed social workers. These professionals have been camping outside the Office of the Premier for weeks, demanding placement.
“This act of engagement is a commendable step, reflecting the government's recognition of the dire situation. The ongoing failure by the government to employ additional social workers, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, support administration staff, and educators is, however, still a grave concern.
“The public sector is crippled by staff shortages owing to overspending on operational expenses and failure to replace employees who resigned, retired, or passed away. This has resulted in increased workloads for remaining staff, a surge in litigation related to medical claims, and a pervasive culture of fruitless expenditure, corruption, and maladministration without consequences,” read the statement.
The association added that President Cyril Ramaphosa committed to creating more job opportunities and that the government should lead by example.
“The well-being of communities, particularly the most vulnerable, depends on immediate and decisive action. The continued neglect of these critical staffing needs is a disservice to the people of KZN and a direct violation of the government's constitutional obligations to protect the rights and dignity of citizens.
“The current staffing crisis is an affront to the government's constitutional obligations to provide public services. The PSA calls for urgent intervention by the National Treasury to reprioritise funds towards improving service delivery and ensuring full compliance with constitutional mandates,” the PSA statement read.
Efforts to solicit a comment from the provincial and national departments were not successful as neither responded to questions from the publication.
Premier Ntuli also did not respond by the time of publication.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance in KZN said in May that KZN’s DSD had R27.6 million to employ 110 social workers based on the average social worker salary in South Africa of R242 292 per annum.
Furthermore, the party said at the time that it had identified three programmes that it believed should be scrapped and overhauled to ensure that social workers were employed.
“The Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Livelihoods programme – with a R23 million budget: this programme is extremely difficult to monitor, evaluate, and audit. It is also easy to manipulate and use these funds for campaigning purposes
“Population Policy Promotion – with a R2.7 million budget: In this regard, the department needs to employ graduates to do the job instead of using expensive consultants.
“Community mobilization – with a R1.9 million budget: DSD claims that the programme aims to build safe and sustainable communities through the creation of strong community networks, based on trust and respect for local diversity, and nurturing a sense of belonging and confidence in local people,” read the DA statement.
Last week, the South African Trade Union Federation (SAFTU) blamed the capitalist model for the rising unemployment in the country in the wake of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey showing that over 12 million people were now unemployed.
SAFTU felt that this was a revelation that the economy was failing to create jobs for new job entrants in the labour market.
“Previously, we have repeatedly attributed this problem to structural contradictions of capitalism, in its neocolonial character in particular. The neocolonial character means that our economy loses an opportunity to build manufacturing industries for mineral resources as they are extracted and beneficiated elsewhere, not locally.
“Instead of reversing the structural brutalities of capitalism, the government stubbornly continues down the path of neoliberalism, featuring ‘fiscal consolidation’ as demanded by the private sector: cutting expenditure even of vitally-needed social programmes, in the face of massive developmental challenges.
“Consequently, the government defunding and private sector investment strike have contributed to the gross fixed capital formation decline gradually over the past years, including in the last two quarters of 2023,” read the statement.
The Federation further warned that there would be no economic growth, job creation, and poverty alleviation until the cessation of both public and private sector investment strikes.
Sunday Independent
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