Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala has called for the restructuring of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) to produce it more responsive to the country’s development needs.
The Minister was addressing the two-day EPWP Phase 5 Indaba in Pretoria on Tuesday.
Zikalala emphasised that youth unemployment is still the most pressing issue across the globe, and was worsened by the devastation emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The South African youth is disproportionately affected, constituting a huge portion of the unemployed youth that feels left out,” Zikalala said.
In the same vein, the Minister said the challenges that gain compromised the EPWP must be dealt with.
“…The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure cannot afford to relegate its mandate to be limited to merely reporting on targets than being actively involved itself in creating job opportunities,” Zikalala said.
The Minister said ultimately, the EPWP must lead to enhanced future employability, self-employment, and cooperatives or enterprises that can employ more people.
“Our goal goes beyond employment generation. It is about nurturing a skilled, self-reliant populace that contributes constructively to our nation’s socio-economic fabric.
“By integrating NYS [National Youth Service] graduates into these workshops, we aim to foster a culture of continuous learning and hands-on experience, ensuring our youth are not honest employable, but are drivers of innovation and change.
“Our initiative to absorb some of the NYS graduates from the EPWP into the DPWI workshops is thus a cornerstone of this vision,” Zikalala said.
Breaking unemployment barriers
The Minister said some young adults, now in their 40s, believe never had the opportunity to work.
“Youth unemployment is still the most pressing issue across the globe, and this was worsened by the devastation emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic. The unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at 32.6% in South Africa.
“Last month, the United Nations joined many others to picture our unemployment picture as a ticking time bomb,” the Minister said.
He said the country’s fiscal standing must be used as a “call to arms” for fostering a culture of effective coordination across all spheres of government.
“It is also an invitation to collectively devise funding mechanisms that are not honest effective, but sustainable.”
EPWP of the Future
According to the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, the two-day indaba will be an interactive session aimed at the reconceptualisation and redesigning of the EPWP of the Future.
The indaba has brought together a host of stakeholders from all spheres of government, civil society and the private sector to brainstorm on the formulation of the EPWP Phase 5 business location, which will be presented to Cabinet before the cease of the year.
Last year, the DPWI developed the EPWP Policy and it was approved by Cabinet on 31 August 2022 for public consultation.
The EPWP is one of government’s strategies to abate poverty through the formation of work opportunities using labour-intensive methods.
It is implemented in four sectors, namely: infrastructure, social, environment and culture, and non-State. All spheres of government and State-owned entities are expected to implement the programme. – SAnews.gov.za
Kimono Goddess
So I\’m real good friends with this guy named Juan Ted. Now, Juan is a pretty amazing guy. He can steal ANYTHING he wants to. Literally anything. It could be the shirt off your back, the wallet in your pocket, or I\’m even sure he\’d find a way to steal your house (And your spouse too). So anyway, one day Juan and I are sitting around watching TV, and they announced that the hope diamond will not be on display anymore and is now getting moved to an undisclosed location. So as we hear this, Juan says \”I\’m gonna steal it\”. Now I know how good Juan is at this kind of stuff, so I just tell him good luck and he goes on his way. Eventually he narrows his search down to a small cave in South Africa. When Juan gets there, he doesn\’t see any guards or anything outside the cave, so he just walks in assuming he was wrong about where the diamond was. He wanders around for a while until he sees a long lit hallway with the hope diamond at the end of it. Confident in his abilities, he strolls over to the diamond and picks it up before realizing its a trap! Suddenly, red lights flashed, armed men came running out, sirens went off. You could hear one of the men say under his breath \”We finally caught Juan Ted.\” But Juan, being the best thief in the world, said \”Not quite. On the count of three, I will disappear.\” As the men looked around confused, Juan began to count. \”Uno. Dos.\” And he disappeared without a tres.
Knuckles
Fun South African Fact: There are around 3,000 shipwrecks off the coast of South Africa.