Pretoria – The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) has successfully made a significant socio-economic impact on communities through the creation and maintenance of community assets.
EPWP is government’s initiative aimed at alleviating poverty and unemployment within South African communities through the provision of short term to medium term work opportunities to the poor, unskilled and unemployed South Africans.
“Among its major contribution towards the provision of services and assets, EPWP has maintained over 40 000km of provincial access roads and provided services to 595 schools through food production gardeners operating within the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP),” said the Deputy Director General of EPWP, Stanley Henderson.
The initiative is governed by the EPWP Ministerial Determination, which is gazetted by the Minister of Labour as a variation of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. It outlines the working conditions of all EPWP participants who are employed across all EPWP sectors, namely infrastructure, non-state sector, environment & culture and social.
The current minimum daily wage rate, as per the Ministerial Determination on EPWP, is R78.86 per day. The average wage rate is higher and varies across the different sectors of the EPWP.
The average wage is R115 per day but many projects pay wages that are much higher. The minimum wages increase annually and in line with the inflation rate.
Portia Khoza from Emalahleni in Mpumalanga says she has benefited greatly from EPWP. She is currently placed at FLSmidth Buffalo (Pty) Ltd where she is receiving training in electrical studies.
“As young women, we have been afforded an opportunity to participate in a workplace that is dominated by men. In our journey in this programme, we have been exposed to more than electricity trade.
“We are receiving training in different areas such as assisting in building panels, wiring of machines, manufacturing of feeder breakers and in regular maintenance in the workplace.
“We thank government and all participating companies for giving us an opportunity to live our dreams. You have all given us hope for a better future and we are grateful,” said Khoza.
Khoza is in the Artisan Development Programme, which is a three to four year training programme that provides theoretical and practical training to the EPWP participants, giving them the maximum exposure to the work environment.
EPWP Phase 3, which started in April 2014, has created 1.5 million work opportunities against a set target of 6 million work opportunities by 2019. – SAnews.gov.za
