I would like to extend warm greetings to all our dedicated participants and staff across all provinces and in particular to all the women in Working on Fire.

The national theme for Women’s Month this August was, “Women United in Moving South Africa Forward”.

To this end we are extremely proud that the programme is one of the government’s most successful EPWP programmes, which has created work opportunities for many women across the length and breadth of South Africa.

Thirty-one percent of our participants are women, which continues to be the highest ratio of women to men employed in this sector. Many of our women participants have evolved from being firefighters to becoming administrative and management personnel in the programme. Our women participants are proud of who they have become thanks to the continuous training and development which they receive at Working on Fire.

We are in the midst of our winter fire season and our teams in Limpopo and Mpumalanga in particular were kept busy with some big fires. We have received positive feedback from our partners about the hard work and dedication which our participants showed during these fires. I urge you to remain vigilant and safe on the fire line.