Johannesburg — WHILE SA gears up to host the Soccer World Cup in June, many of the construction workers who built the stadiums are already without jobs and have few prospects.

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 the workers were not properly catered for.

"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," he said. Seshoka explained that the NUM had "put much faith" in the National Economic Development and Labour Council, which had been helping to reskill the workers.

"We cannot be a trade union and an employment agency at the same time. We already have 25% unemployment in SA."

According to the director of human resources at the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (Safcec), Muller Uys, about 70 000 people have done civil construction work for the football spectacle. 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."

Safcec economist Pierre Blaauw said it was difficult to put a number to all 2010 constructors countrywide but there were about 130 000, with about 91000 being casuals.

Seshoka said as part of retrenchment packages, the workers got bonuses, the largest of which was three months salary. The casuals could be retrained quickly and re-employed in future projects.

The local organising committee has allocated 40 000 free World Cup tickets to construction workers. Seshoka said that was a nice gesture, but some could not afford transport to matches.

A worker leader at Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium, Patrick Getueza, said: "It upsets me that I cannot tell my workers why they will be back on the streets when their contracts end."

One of the workers under him is Cynthia Blomo, a single mother.

She said her contract was ending soon but management had not made any "clear promises about what happens afterwards".