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More jobs have been lost, this time at the Min­istry of Sport and Youth Af­fairs, as short-term staff see their con­tracts come to an end.

Min­is­ter of Sport and Youth Af­fairs Phillip Watts has de­nied that any em­ploy­ees were dis­missed, in­sist­ing that the con­tracts of short-term work­ers sim­ply ex­pired, even as a late-night email or­der­ing the non-re­new­al of con­tracts sparked out­rage on so­cial me­dia.

“What hap­pened is that per­sons’ con­tracts came to an end on the 31st, and that’s it,” Watts said in an in­ter­view. “We didn’t fire any­body; a con­tract com­ing to an end and fir­ing peo­ple are two dif­fer­ent things. Since I am at that min­istry, we nev­er dis­miss any­one. When peo­ple’s con­tracts come to an end, that’s it.”