Pretoria – Public Works Minister Thulas Nxesi says the improved public awareness of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) is due to the value it adds in the communities.

EPWP is a flagship programme to fight poverty and unemployment through the provision of short to medium term work and training opportunities.

The Labour Market Dynamics for South Africa 2014 report, which was delivered by Statistician General PaliLehohla last week, states that awareness of the EPWP and other government job creation programmes increased from 42.8% to 52% in 2014.

The EPWP Phase 3 has absorbed the element of public participation, community development as well as social cohesion and integration.

This means that EPWP projects and programmes are no longer l imi ted to government’s fight against poverty and unemployment through the creation of short to medium term work and training opportunities, but these programmes are also intrinsic in the development and unity of our people.

“The public now plays a role in working with government to identify EPWP projects and programmes that can improve their lives, develop their communities and indeed unite them,” Minister Nxesi said.

Public Works Deputy Minister Jeremy Cronin spoke about the involvement of over a thousand of EPWP Working on Fire fire fighters, who braved the recent multiple fires in the Western Cape as another example of EPWP’s contribution to the development of communities.

“These EPWP fire fighters were able to unify our nation. Community members from Western Cape and across the country rallied behind them in the daunting and dangerous task to extinguish those fires. As a nation we remain proud of the work they did,” he said.

The EPWP Working on Fire Programme is implemented by the National Department of Environmental Affairs.

The Labour Market Dynamics for South Africa 2014 report states that in 2014, seven out of 10 of those who participated in the EPWP and other government job creation programmes were employed, up from 56.9% in 2014.

“This is what we mean when we say that EPWP can lead towards the provision of sustainable employment for those who are involved in it,” Deputy Minister Cronin said.

Source: SAnews.gov.za