At the awards ceremony held Thursday night, the provincial premier, Sisi Ntombela, explained her excitement with how the EPWP has assisted the province with decreasing the rate of unemployment. Through the programme, over 62 000 work opportunities were created in the province. The department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Gogta) got handed the highest job creation contributor award for having created the highest number of work opportunities in the province; while the department of Police, Roads and Transport walked away as the best in the Youth Inclusion Category, a category that recognises a provincial department that has achieved 55% or more on target of work opportunities created for young people. The programme was established by the national government with the aim of assisting and providing employment to the people of the country.

The provincial departments that have been recognised to have achieved 100% or more on target of both work opportunities and full-time equivalent, as well as compliance with the EPWP minimum wage, are the Department of Health, the Department of Education, and the Department of Social Development. 

The municipality that walked away with the award that recognised municipalities that have achieved more than 55% on target of work opportunities created for young people, is the Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality. 

The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, together with the Department of Social Development, walked away with the award that recognises provincial departments that draw the highest EPWP grant allocations due to good performance. The municipalities that were awarded for drawing the highest EPWP grant allocations due to good performance are the Dihlabeng Local Municipality, the Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality, and the Maluti-A-Phofung Local Municipality.

The recognitions were given by the provincial Department of Public Works and Infrastructure’s MEC, Motshidise Koloi, who had an opportunity to hand out these special awards. This included an award that went to the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure for achieving more than the target of 2% of all work opportunities that should be created solely for people with disabilities.

The International Labour Organisation walked away with the International Positive Profiling of EPWP; a category that recognises a support agency that have showcased work of the province internationally and provided technical support on the mainstreaming of Labour Intensive Construction Methods in the Infrastructure Sector.

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