The Mayor of the Umzimvubu Local Municipality, Councillor Zukiswa Ndevu, announced that 649 workers had been recruited through the Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) during the 2021/2022 financial year.
The programme is a key government initiative, which contributes to government policy priorities, in terms of decent work and sustainable livelihoods, education, health, rural development, food security and land reform.
The EPWP has been established and mandated by government to create work opportunities according to the set targets and across all four government sectors, namely social, infrastructure, environment and culture. One of the proscripts of the EPWP is to use labour-intensive methods, which allow for the drawing of a significant number of participants into the programme to do the work.
“This programme continues to change livelihoods and provide work opportunities for the most previously disadvantaged groups in our area. We remain committed to the alleviation of poverty and unemployment, thus the significant number or recruitments conducted during this financial year alone.
“We had received an amount of R9.9 million from the Department of Public Works and we yearn to continue with the programme in the next financial year,” said Ndevu.
She added that the nationwide programme is implemented annually to mitigate the triple challenges of youth unemployment, poverty and crime.
Ndevu said Umzimvubu welcomed the impact of this programme and would continue to advocate for more programmes of this nature.
