Nearly half of 67,000 participants to be cut from CWP don't qualify for old age pension

JOHANNESBURG - With the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) set to terminate the temporary employment of people aged 55 and older, about 30,000 are of those do not qualify yet for old age pension.

COGTA recently announced that due to budget cuts it would be terminating the contracts of beneficiaries from the Community Work Programme that are aged 55 and older.

The CWP is a government initiative that provides temporary employment to about 250,000 working age people.

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The qualifying age for old age pension in South Africa is 60 and older.

Out of the 67,000 CWP workers set to lose their jobs, about 30,000 are younger than 60.

COSATU spokesperson, Matthew Parks, said this group of people had little means to survive.

Parks said at their advanced ages, they were also unlikely to be employed elsewhere.

The trade union federation is engaging with COGTA in the hopes of having the department reverse its decision.