DOT poverty relief programme brings some relief to the poorest of the poor.

It is important that when members of the Zibambele road maintenance programme die, they are buried with dignity, Mr James Mlawu told leaders of community road structures.

Mr Mlawu said concerns from the RRTF members that some Zibambele members had received pauper’s funerals were being solved by exemplary Zibambele structures like the one from Buhlebamakhosi which had started burial club to afford its members some dignity when they are dead.

Mr Mlawu explained that any Zibambele member who was injured on duty would receive support from the Department and that the nature of benefits would be decided upon by the Department’s administrative head, Dr Kwazi Mbanjwa.

He said his Department which started the Zibambele programme to assist the poorest of the poor with job opportunities, could not impose to members what they should do with the little they were able to generate for their families.

Zibambele now has savings clubs, which seek to assist members venture into other business activities and also take care of members’ social welfare needs, which could include burial expenses.

Zibambele, together with the Department’s Vukuzakhe Emerging Contractor programme, have earned national acclaim from President Thabo Mbeki and his finance minister Trevor Manuel respectively, both of whom have said that such programmes were destined to become national initiatives to respond to the challenge of poverty and joblessness.

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