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October/November 2016
T
he Expanded Public Works
Programme (EPWP) initiative
will provide unemployed South
Africa the opportunity to earn income
while acquiring skills that couldmake
them more employable.
The Engineering and Asset Man-
agement Branch of the City’s Water
and Sanitation Department has been
chosen to implement the 18-month
project. The R8,9 million project will
train 110 semi-skilled workers, who
will be partnered with skilled, quali-
fied artisans.
The candidates are recruited from
the City’s apprenticeship database. In
some instances these are candidates
who require practical application
of their theoretical training, or cur-
rently registered on the job seeker
database.
“This is a great project because
apart from the all-important job
creation aspect, it will help the City
build relationships with FET colleges
and other tertiary institutions. This
also helps to address the desperate
need for practical, on-the-job training
for graduates who often struggle to
find work because they do not have
the practical skills to back up their
academic qualifications,” said the
City’sMayoral CommitteeMember for
Social Development and Early Child-
hood Development, Suzette Little.
Candidates will be trained in
first-aid (Level 1), health and safety
awareness, as well as the use of
power-tools. The candidates will
undergo quarterly assessments
to measure performance and to
determine whether remedial action
is necessary in order to assist them.
“We are so excited about this proj-
ect because it means that we are able
to increase productivity and efficien-
cy by partnering EPWP workers with
qualified artisans. It also opens up
new avenues of recruitment for the
Utility Services Directorate,” said the
City’sMayoral CommitteeMember for
Utility Services, Ernest Sonnenberg.
The C i t y ’s Ut i l i t y Se r v i ce s
Directorate, along with Transport for
Cape Town (TCT) are two of the big-
gest ‘employers’, accounting for just
over 50% of all work opportunities..
The City’s EPWP implementation
has received a number of accolades
at national level in recent years.
In the 2015/16 financial year, the
accolades included: the National
EPWP KAMOSO 2015 Awards: Best
Municipality in the Social Sector and
the Woman in Construction Award:
Most Innovative Woman Training
Programme Award.
■
New EPWP long-term employment initiative
The City of Cape Town’s pilot Expanded PublicWorks Programme
aims to take the programme a step further and offer job seekers
and unemployed graduates a better chance of securing long-term
employment.
G
auteng Premier David Makhu-
ra says that the provincial
government will sell all the
properties it owns, including the
Premier’s official residence.
The Premier made this announce-
ment while responding to questions
at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature
recently.
In March, he made a commitment
to the legislature that the future of the
official residencewouldbeconsidered
once the Department of Infrastruc-
ture Development had completed
an audit of all assets, including non-
core assets belonging to the Gauteng
Provincial Government.
“The asset register and valuation
of all government fixed property has
now been completed. The majority
of these properties are occupied by
public servants. Thirty-one properties
will be disposed at the first online
auction will take place towards the
end of October 2016.”
Makhura said he was confident
that this decision will not only save
the provincial government money
from maintenance but it will help
raise additional resources to fund the
provincial government’s programme
of Transformation, Modernisation
and Re-industrialisation (TMR) pri-
orities such as student bursaries and
the youth employment programme,
Tshepo 500 000.TMR
“We will only keep the property
portfolio and land assets which add
value to service delivery, infrastruc-
ture development and our overall
agenda TMR,” said Makhura.
“ E ku r h u l e n i Me t r o p o l i t a n
Municipality prioritised Winnie Man-
dela Informal Settlement for the
provision of electricity as part of
creating liveable settlements under
the Informal Settlement Re-blocking
Programme.”
Makhura added that electrification
of Informal Settlement is a prior-
ity programme for Gauteng munici-
palities. The Departments of Human
Settlements and Cooperative Gover-
nance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta)
are providing the necessary support
to national government departments
and state-owned enterprises.
■
Gauteng to sell government properties
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