EPWP must be more skills focused: Zikalala

Reading Time: 2 minutes

The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) needs to be restructured so that it creates work opportunities that involve skills development for sustainable jobs or entrepreneurial outcomes, as well as to help boost service delivery. That’s the word from the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Sihle Zikalala. He was speaking at a two-day conference on the EPWP, which is considering how to improve the next phase of the programme when phase 4 ends at the end of March next year.

The minister says there needs to be a strong focus on the provision of meaningful skills to reduce unemployment and poverty. The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure says the Expanded Public Works Programme has managed to provide over 610 000 work opportunities for South Africans so far for the 2023/2024 fiscal year. And adds that it’s on track to reaching its target of 5-million work opportunities for the whole of phase 4 of the programme, that is from 2019 to 2024.

“Then in the broader context, if you look at EPWP phase 4, against the 5-million target, we’ve reported 4.5-million work opportunities by the 6th of October, so that is quite significant. We are well on our way to meet the target,” says Ignatius Ariyo from the EPWP infrastructure sector.

The Expanded Public Works Programme was designed to help tackle the country’s high unemployment numbers and to reduce poverty. And while the so-called work opportunities are only for a short duration unlike a proper job, they’re said to have made a substantial impact for individuals and their households.

“What the analysis of the research is showing us is that we are targeting the right people in terms of the EPWP. We have some participants who are trained in some of our programmes like the national youths’ programme giving a testimony on how the programme changed their lives,” Ariyo added.

Zikalala says while the EPWP has helped to make a small dent in the scourges of unemployment and poverty, he proposes that phase 5 of the programme, which will run from 2024 through 2029, should be more focused on the quality of the work opportunities created, advocating for greater training and skills development, which he says will augur well for more sustainable job opportunities.

“When I say a sustainable one, it should fulfil the two reasons why it was initiated, alleviate poverty, some skills, opportunities for beneficiaries to be self-sustaining. Now in that regard, once a person is enrolled in the EPWP, we should expect that that person will find himself in a sustainable way to survive, even after the EPWP,” Zikalala explains.

Zikalala has urged government officials and those implementing the EPWP to do so with greater rigour, especially given the country’s high unemployment statistics, with more focus on ensuring that the youth catch more breaks.

He said the programme should not only work to create sustainable opportunities but also to address the issues of poor service delivery. The Minister also challenged government officials to interrogate whether the programme had really made the necessary impact for its beneficiaries.

Speakers reiterated that the Expanded Public Works Programme would retain its relevance for some time to come, given the country’s job creation challenges while Minister Zikalala also lamented that the country would continue to experience high structural unemployment unless the education system improved in making students more ready for the working world when they exit the school system.