A CASE STUDY OF THE IVORY PARK COMMUNITY WORK PROGRAMME Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) study on the Community Work Programme (CWP) Themba Masuku – Senior Researcher August 2015 Acknowledgements This report is based on research carried out in Ivory Park in 2014. I would like to thank the many people, including staff and participants within the Community Work Programme and others, who contributed to the research by participating in interviews and focus groups and in other ways. The research was also supported by feedback from members of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) Urban Violence Study Group, including Hugo van der Merwe, Malose Langa, Jasmina Brankovic, Kindisa Ngubeni and David Bruce. Many others at CSVR also assisted with this work in one way or another. David Bruce assisted with the editing of the report. © September 2015, Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation 3rd Floor, Forum V, Braampark Office Park, 33 Hoofd Street, Braamfontein P O Box 30778, Braamfontein, 2017, South Africa; Tel: (011) 403-5650. Fax: (011) 388-0819. Email: [email protected]. CSVR website: http://www.csvr.org.za This work was carried out with financial support from the UK Government’s Department for International Development and the International Development Research Centre, Canada. The opinions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect those of DFID or IDRC. International Development Research Centre Centre de recherches pour le développement international Table of Contents Introduction 3 Contestation by political parties 31 Methodology 4 regarding the Ivory Park CWP Literature review 5 Work done by the CWP in Ivory Park 33 In-depth interviews 5 Infrastructure projects 34 Focus groups 7 Environment projects 34 Other research methods 7 Social projects 35 Description and overview of Ivory Park 8 Crime prevention as a focus of the 37 Brief history 8 social programme Demographics of Ivory Park 8 Economic projects 38 Language profile for Ivory Park 9 Issues concerning the CWP in 40 Local government and politics in Ivory Park 10 Ivory Park emerging from the research Local government 10 Attitudes towards the CWP 40 Political control 10 Challenges facing the CWP in Ivory Park 41 Political developments 11 Internal challenges 41 Challenges facing Ivory Park 13 External challenges 42 Crime and violence 13 Views of interviewees about the 43 Drugs as an issue in Ivory Park 15 role of the CWP in addressing crime Respondents’ observations about crime 17 Impact of CWP work on the Ivory Park 43 History, development and characteristics 18 community of the CWP at site Impact of the CWP on the lives of 45 Overview of the Ivory Park site 18 participants What is the aim of the programme? 18 Absence of gender discrimination 46 Key focus areas of the CWP programme 19 in the CWP in Ivory Park Impact of the CWP on social capital 47 Profile of participants 19 in Ivory Park Reasons for predominance of women 21 in the CWP Analysis and conclusion 48 Young women in the CWP 23 General position of the CWP in Ivory Park 49 Ex-offenders in the CWP 24 Work ethic and commitment 50 Development of the CWP in Ivory Park 25 Leadership 50 Inception 25 Fairness in the allocation of jobs 50 Governance of the CWP in Ivory Park 25 Awareness and understanding in Local reference committee 25 Ivory Park about the CWP Recruitment and selection 25 Role of the CWP in addressing crime Fairness of the selection and recruitment 27 and violence The Ivory Park CWP task team 29 References 51 1 Abbreviations and acronyms ANC African National Congress APC African People’s Convention ARV antiretroviral CBO community-based organization COGTA Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs COPE Congress of the People CPF community police forums CWP Community Work Programme DA Democratic Alliance ECD early childhood development EFF Economic Freedom Fighters HBC home-based care IA implementation agent ID identity document IFP Inkatha Freedom Party LIA local implementation agent LRC local reference committee NFP National Freedom Party NGO nongovernmental organization PAC Pan African Congress PIA provincial implementation agent RDP Reconstruction and Development Programme SANCA South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence SANCO South African National Civic Organization SAPS South African Police Service Stats SA Statistics South Africa UIF unemployment insurance fund Unisa University of South Africa 2 Introduction The Community Work Programme (CWP) is a headed households, the sick and the elderly who government programme within the Department have no family support; and growing vegetables and of Cooperative Governance and Traditional affairs supplying them to early development centres, school (COGTA) whose aim is to provide an employment feeding schemes and poor households. safety net to unemployed people of working age.1 The CWP provides two days of work per week (up to This report is based on a research study which 100 days per year) to unemployed people who have was conducted in Ivory Park between June and been enrolled into the programme. This enables September 2014. The research was part of a study participants to use the other three days to look for also conducted in six other communities: three long-term employment and other opportunities. in the Gauteng,3 two in the Western Cape4 and one in the North West province.5 The research in Another purpose of the CWP is to enable Bokfontein, conducted in 2009, indicated that the participants to contribute to the development of CWP potentially had a significant impact on positive public assets and services in poor communities, social cohesion and building relationships among a and to improve the quality of life of people in range of stakeholders in the community, including marginalized economic areas by providing work integrating foreign nationals and preventing experiences, enhancing dignity and promoting social violence. The findings in the Bokfontein study and economic inclusion.2 raised a number of questions around the role of the CWP in violence prevention and creating safe and Once enrolled into the programme, participants inclusive cities which needed to be tested.6 perform a variety of tasks which are deemed useful to the community, such as cleaning the environment The aim of the research in Ivory Park was therefore (sweeping the streets, clearing dumps and cutting to investigate the impact of the CWP on violence long grass); working in schools as teacher assistants prevention and creating safer and more inclusive and career guidance teachers; looking after child- communities. 1 In Kagiso and Ivory Park there was evidence of a few pensioners enrolled in the CWP. 2 See, http://www.cogta.gov.za/cwp/?page_id=31. 3 The research was conducted in Kagiso and Orange Farm. 4 The study was conducted in Manenberg and Grabouw. 5 The research was conducted in Bokfontein. 6 M. Langa, ‘Bokfontein: The Nations Are Amazed,’ in Karl von Holdt, Malose Langa, Sepetla Molapo, Nomfundo Mogapi, Kindiza Ngubeni, Jacob Dlamini and Adele Kirsten, The Smoke that Calls: Insurgent Citizenship, Collective Violence and the Struggle for a Place in the New South Africa. Eight Case Studies of Community Protest and Xenophobic Violence (Johannesburg: Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and Society, Work and Development Institute, 2011). 3 Methodology The methodological approach was multidisciplinary I attended another coordinators meeting on and cross-sectional and made use of a variety of 23 May to further outline the role-out and deal methods to gather data. Also, the approach was with questions that coordinators and facilitators had participatory in that it allowed the researcher regarding the research, ranging from whether this to spend three months in the company of CWP was research or an investigation; whether people participants, facilitators, coordinators and site would be guaranteed anonymity; what benefits the management while conducting fieldwork. research was likely to have for the CWP; anxiety around whether the research could result in the The fieldwork, which started on 2 June 2014, closure of the CWP in Ivory Park; who was funding was preceded by a series of consultation meetings the research and whether CoGTA and Seriti had with the site manager. The aim of the consultation sanctioned the research. After dealing with the meetings was to explain the research and get buy-in questions I was again asked to leave, despite having from the site manager, facilitators and coordinators. requested permission to remain in the meeting These meetings were also important to allay any as an observer. It was only in the meeting of fears that people might have regarding the research. 30 May that I was invited to stay and observe the I met the site manager twice during May. In the meeting after a brief presentation. In that meeting first meeting, which lasted for almost two hours, I also outlined my fieldwork plan and identified the research was explained in detail. In the second coordinators that I would work with. meeting, a proposal of how the research would be rolled out was outlined and discussed with the site The fieldwork, which started in Ivory Park on manager. I was then invited to present the research 2 June 2014, lasted until 14 September 2014. proposal during the coordinators meeting on 16 Table 1 shows a breakdown of the number of May 2014. Once I had completed my presentation, people interviewed and the methods used to I was asked to leave the meeting