Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille calls on all stakeholders and members of the public to make inputs on the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) Policy, as these inputs are important to revise the policy and ensure it responds to the problems facing the programme, and that the country finds and implements solutions together.

While the EPWP has had numerous successes, there has been a lack of uniformity in applying EPWP prescripts and compliance. Consequently, in consultation with stakeholders, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) has developed the EPWP Policy, she says.

"The EPWP Policy recognises the strengths of the programme and aims to place it on a strengthened trajectory by addressing fundamental issues impacting its expansion by engaging on matters, such as the EPWP wage, providing clarity on the positioning of the EPWP within the context of social protection and the labour market, redefining the EPWP programmes, providing for a clearer funding model and strengthening the monitoring aspects related to the EPWP participant."

It is expected that the revised EPWP Policy will go before Cabinet for approval later this year and it is expected that the final EPWP policy will be gazetted early in 2023 for implementation.

The development and gazetting of the EPWP Policy follow years of extensive engagements by the DPWI and various stakeholders participating in the implementation of the EPWP. Extensive research was also undertaken by the department in the development of this policy.

"The purpose of the EPWP Policy is to refocus the public employment programme (PEP) agenda of government, with policy positions and programmes of action that are clearly defined, implementable and enforceable," De Lille notes.

"The EPWP Policy aims to address challenges in the implementation of the EPWP. The EPWP is a flagship PEP in South Africa. PEPs are typically used as short- to medium-term interventions to address seasonal and cyclical challenges. However, unemployment is a deep-rooted structural challenge in South Africa," she adds.

The EPWP is one of the government’s strategies to alleviate poverty through the creation of work opportunities using labour-intensive methods. The EPWP is implemented in four sectors, namely infrastructure, social, environment and culture, and non-State. All spheres of government and State-owned entities are expected to implement the programme.

The EPWP participants, or beneficiaries, work on different projects such as community work programmes, early childhood development programmes, home community-based care programmes, extra school support programmes, Working on Fire, Working for Water and roads maintenance projects, besides others, she highlights.

"Since its inception on April 1, 2004, to March 31 this year, more than 13-million work opportunities have been created in the EPWP across all spheres of government. Through the productive work of participants in the EPWP, projects deliver concrete outputs, which improve the lives of the poor by providing a wide range of services."

We are calling on all stakeholders and communities to engage the department on this policy during the countrywide EPWP Policy Public Consultation Sessions that the Department will be embarking on over the next few weeks.

These public consultation sessions will take place in all provinces starting from September 19. During these consultation sessions, the public, through their representative structures, will be afforded an opportunity to discuss and contribute to the EPWP Policy.

The policy was gazetted for public comment in the Government Gazette on September 16. The EPWP Policy was approved by Cabinet on August 31 for public consultation.

Interested parties may submit written comments on the EPWP Policy within 30 days from the date of gazette. Thereafter, the department will, after revising the Policy based on the public input, consult the National Economic Development and Labour Council on the EPWP Policy, De Lille says.