Pretoria - Cabinet has welcomed back the firefighters who were deployed to Canada to help fight wildlands fires.
The South African team was demobilised following heavy rains.
Following their return, Cabinet said the Department of Environmental Affairs are investigating the pay dispute by the firefighters for a fair outcome for all stakeholders.
The management of Working on Fire (WoF) has assured them there will be an internal inquiry to ascertain what could have led to the dispute in Canada.
Government, through Department of Environmental Affairs and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, will continue to engage directly with the Canadian government to set up a memorandum of understanding that can be used when they work together in future.
Late last week, Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said the country remains immensely proud of their well-trained firefighters, who have done excellent work over a number of years, which has been recognised by the international firefighting community.
WoF is a government-funded, job-creation programme focusing on implementing integrated fire management in South Africa.
Cabinet said more than 5 000 young men and women have been fully trained as wildfire firefighters and are stationed in more than 200 bases across South Africa.
Firefighters are recruited from marginalised communities and trained in fire awareness and education, prevention and fire-suppression skills.
Similar government programmes include Working for Water and Working for Energy where government invests in labour-intensive activities that create jobs and protect natural resources. – SAnews.gov.za
