Government’s Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) has come under criticism over the past few years. It was launched in 2004 as one of the solutions to eradicate youth unemployment.
While the Department of Public Works maintains that it is achieving its mandate, critics question the credibility of the skills which they say are not marketable.
142 graduates are recognised for their participation in the Expanded Public Works Programme. 30-year-old Vivian Maju is one of them.
She has participated in the programme for seven years and has worked as a gardener and a home-based caregiver.
She says the programme changed her life. “This programme has changed my life because since I have been working on this programme in 2011 until now at least I know how to save. I have opened a savings account, so at least every month from the stipend I get, I save R150. I can buy clothes, I can pay school fees for my child, and I can also buy some food and pay some insurance.”
Even though the programme has been slated, government says it was not meant to fix all problems.
“This is one of the programmes that tries to do its best to address that problem (unemployment) and what’s nice about the EPWP type programmes is that unlike a social grant, people are getting a stipend basically for the work that they do. Currently it varies between R70, R80, and R90 per day but at the same time they’re doing useful things for their communities, for their societies,” says Deputy Minister of Public Works Jeremy Cronin.
However, analysts have questioned the credibility of the skills imparted.
“I find that the main reason why they cannot fend for themselves beyond the programme participation is because the skills that they were empowered with are not necessarily important in the labour market. They are not of relevance in them being part of the active economic society. They are unable to participate because the labour market does not need them. They’re unable to participate because the skills are not important to the job offers and job opportunities. Therefore in this case, it questions how credible are these skills that these people are being given,” says North West University’s Researcher Kaelo Moore.
More than 300 000 people are currently taking part in the programme.
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