THE Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Sihle Zikalala, addressed the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) Indaba in Hatfield, Tshwane on Tuesday, 10 October.
The interactive session is aimed at the reconceptualization and redesigning of the EPWP's future.
During his address, Zikalala said they are for decent employment.
"Those employed must sympathise with those unemployed and create opportunities for them. EPWP is meant to cover that gap," he said.
He said it is not only the ANC with structures that implement EPWP, but these structures are also coordinated through municipalities.
He said some of the challenges that are giving EPWP problems are the lack of effective structures, lack of impact and lack of proper training.
"In EPWP, we don't mean permanent employment but massive job opportunities to provide skills and fight poverty," he said.
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The Minister said they have created almost 3.9 million jobs in the fourth phase which started in 2019 until now.
He said they are aiming to create more job opportunities as phase four is concluded. He condemned corruption in the programme like nepotism.
He said at some point, there will be ghost employees and need a monitoring mechanism.
"It's in our hands to implement the public employment for future of South Africa. We should be thinking about children who are existing schools because of poverty. We should think of women who are unemployed," he said.
He also said there must be a proper exit strategy through linking beneficiaries with permanent employment or that they become entrepreneurs.
"We have to ensure that public works is well positioned to coordinate all spheres in provincial and national, to contribute to the creation of jobs," he said.
The Minister said they have called the EPWP to be restructured to make it impactful and contribute to service delivery.
