Names drawn from bucket to decide on jobs for R2.3bn road project

Ward councillors in Osizweni in Newcastle resorted to pulling names out of a bucket on Monday to allocate jobs on a R2.3bn road contract in the area.

About 150 residents gathered in a local school yard in Osizweni with their IDs for the so-called "finder finder" recruitment process for temporary road contract workers.

Ward councillor Vukile Kubheka watched over the process where residents' IDs were put into two buckets. Twenty-two IDs were pulled out – 11 male and 11 female – for work on the tar road managed by Umpisi Group, a Durban contractor.

This followed an outcry by residents at a recent meeting, accusing ward committee members of favouritism in allocating jobs. Forty-three of 65 workers had already been recruited.

"There is a high rate of unemployment in this township, so one has to understand the people's concerns," said Kubheka.

"So we have done the so-called 'finder finder' recruitment process, and we have met the target of the contractor."

He said construction would take five months. The contract workers would earn R1,300 a month.

Siphesihle Simelane, 25, was one of those who got a contract. He comes from a family of 15 who all rely on social grants and since matriculating in 2012 has not had a regular job.

However, with help from his church, Simelane managed to register for a law degree at the University of SA (Unisa) last year and has secured a grant from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.

He said the road contract money would allow him to buy textbooks and "help at home where I can in these few months".

This article was first published by GroundUp.