According to South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (Safcec) director of human resources Muller Uys, quoted by The Sowetan, about 70,000 people have done civil construction work for the Fifa Soccer World Cup event. “This included labour on stadiums, the Gautrain and on minor building jobs. Of these 70,000, around 70% were local casual labour, which is a legal stipulation, and the rest were skilled or core workers. We have to move the local component around so that they can have regular work. The core people return to their companies and are assigned other projects.”

The article continues: Many of the workers are already without jobs and will not find employment in future projects. Many of the workers’ contracts have come to an end and they might not be absorbed into public sector projects. National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said yesterday [2 February] the workers were not properly catered for.” He was quoted saying: “Those who helped build Peter Mokaba Stadium (Polokwane’s 2010 stadium), are already unemployed, despite NUM’s plan of action last year. We tried to get them into the public sector but, because of existing personnel, they couldn’t be placed”.

It is difficult, Safcec economist Pierre Blaauw told The Sowetan, to put a number to all 2010 constructors countrywide but there are about 130,000, with about 91,000 being casuals.

“Seshoka said as part of retrenchment packages, the workers got bonuses, the largest of which was three months’ salary. The local organising committee has allocated 40,000 free World Cup tickets to construction workers. It was a nice gesture, Seshoka said, but some could not afford transport to matches.”

The Sowetan quoted a “worker leader” at Johannesburg’s Soccer City stadium, Patrick Getueza, saying: “It upsets me that I cannot tell my workers why they will be back on the streets when their contracts end.”

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