Central SA
Close to a million EPWP job opportunities created by government─── 15:37 Fri, 04 Jun 2021
With an increase in job losses since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has continued to use programmes such as the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) to curb the unemployment rate in South Africa.
According to the Acting Deputy Director-General of the EPWP in the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DWPI), Ignatius Ariyo, the EPWP is one of government’s short to medium term strategies to create employment. He said the programme has been running since 2004 and the purpose of EPWP is to cut down on unemployment and poverty.
The programme has created 938 688 jobs nationally, through 13 496 EPWP projects that were implemented across its four sectors, namely infrastructure, non-state, environment and culture, and social, since the 2020/21 financial year. Ariyo said the programme has created 61 966 opportunities in the Free State, 41 817 in the Northern Cape, and 64 926 in North West.
According to a media statement of the EPWP, the government has transferred R9,6 billion as an income to support the EPWP participants in the 2020/21 financial year. The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure has called all implementing public bodies to scale the implementation of EPWP so that more contributions are made towards poverty alleviation and reduction of unemployment.
OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi
