Expanded Public Works Programme: progress report by Deputy Minister & Department of Public Works

Meeting report

Ms P Adams (ANC) commented that the functioning of the Department of Public Works (DPW) was problematic. It was struggling to sustain itself for survival. The work of Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) was not restricted to the DPW, but concerned all departments and levels of government. One should look at the reporting function of local municipalities as they should be capacitated. She also suggested possibly knocking on the doors of major companies and thus involve them in social responsibility.

Mr Jeremy Cronin, Deputy Minister of Public Works, welcomed inputs and comments. The challenges were with municipalities that were smaller or weaker in general. The DPW was sympathetic towards these municipalities in terms of implementation. For a municipality to deliver, dedicated staff was essential. Those who have ability to report were non-profit companies who were usually involved in community work. The Committee should assist the DPW to identify certain areas that needed urgent intervention. The DPW was striving to address issues stemming from a legacy of discrimination in the context of property ownership. Other challenges were the possibility of corruption and bribery. However, this could be addressed though the monitoring and evaluation mechanism.

Mr Stan Henderson, DPW Deputy Director General: EPWP, said that there ought to be collaboration between the EPWP and the Independent Development Trust (IDT). The IDT had developed a fantastic format for reporting. It was a precondition that municipalities report on their activities before more funds could be released. However, the Auditor General ought to look at the IDT report format before it could be utilised.

Ms Carmen-Joy Abrahams, DPW Chief Director: EPWP Partnership Support, took the Committee through presentation, focusing on the 2015/16 EPWP performance analysis, EPWP integrated grant progress, EPWP social sector grant, EPWP technical support overview, EPWP training report as of 3rd quarter of 2015/16, EPWP audit issues, challenges facing the programme and measures put in place to address challenges.

• She noted annual targets for the past five years and work opportunities progress against two years target and work opportunities against the 2015/16 target. Overall progress was standing at 21% and 36% respectively.
• As at 16 March 2016, 541 776 work opportunities were reported against a target of 1 127 186 (48%). For the EPWP to achieve its 2015/16 target, an additional 585 410 work opportunities should be reported.
• At national level, 310 563 work opportunities were reported against a set target of 436 022 which was 71%. The majority of the work opportunities were contributed by the Non State Sector Programme (NSS): Community Works Programme (CWP) with 210 529 (107%) and the Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) with 49 626 (103%).
• At provincial and municipal level, 231 213 work opportunities were reported against a combined target of 687 487 (34%). All municipalities did not achieve their set target by end of Q3. Therefore, 46 559 work opportunities were on the pending list of the reporting system.
• With work opportunities reported nationally, women participants were 69.95%, youth participants were 43.08% and people with disability was 1.52%.
• A total of 30 128 participants on the pending list were from provincial departments whereas municipal participants on the pending list were 16 106.
• On sector performance: the Infrastructure sector had reported 146 407 work opportunities against the target of 413 672 (35%); Environmental and Culture sector has reported 41 518 work opportunities against the target of 131 428 (31%); Social sector had reported 43 288 work opportunities against the target of 142 387 (30%).
• EPWP Integrated Grant progress at the end of February 2016: 100% of the allocation had been transferred to eligible departments at provincial level and the expenditure was 82%. The highest spending provinces were Eastern Cape (98%) and Western Cape (96%). At municipal level, 100% of the allocation had been transferred to eligible municipalities and expenditure was 70%.
• Challenges in the implementation of the EPWP Integrated Grant included delays in implementation of projects due to internal weaknesses in public bodies and in submitting monthly expenditure reports.
• Measures put in place to address the challenges were twofold. These included provision of technical support to eligible public bodies to help in selection and implementation of project and withholding letters issued to public bodies not submitting expenditure reports or low expenditure. Public bodies were requested in the withholding letters to explain reasons for delay in implementing measures put in to address challenges.
• Progress on the EPWP social sector grant: 100% of the allocation has been transferred.

Ms Abrahams explained the EPWP received funding from the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) through the National Skills Fund to provide training to the EPWP participants in the form of supporting training programmes such as short courses, skills programme, learnships programmes and Artisan Development Programmes. The funds approved for the 2010-16 period was R362 million. The titles of the skills programmes were listed.

Measures were taken to address audit findings. The Department of Public Works was engaging the Auditor-General on a fair process for being audited. The DPW’s opinion was that public bodies should be held accountable for keeping evidence for EPWP work opportunities reported. It was engaging the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) to design a performance plan.

Key programme challenges were highlighted:
• Low technical capacity of public bodies to implement EPWP.
• Non-compliant reporting by the provinces as required by the EPWP reporting.
• Non-reporting of EPWP projects by public bodies resulting in lower number of work opportunities reported.
• Implementation delays due to internal challenges like procurement delays or instability in leadership.
• Non-attainment of targets for persons living with disabilities and for youth.
• Non-attainment of full time equivalent jobs (FTEs) targets – due to shorter duration of work opportunities.
• Lack of institutional arrangements in public bodies to monitor implementation of EPWP projects.
• Lack of dedicated human capacity to coordinate the implementation of EPWP in public bodies.  

Measures to address those challenges included:
• Technical support is provided to public bodies to implement projects labour-intensively and report effectively.
– On-going monitoring of Incentive Grant Project Implementation.
– Assist reporting bodies with collection of data from project sites for reporting.
– Monitor project documentation during site visits.
– Assist public bodies in the design and implementation of projects labour-intensively.
• Provincial EPWP coordinating departments are developing EPWP Monitoring and Evaluation functions to assist with effective and efficient reporting and monitoring of the programme.
• Engagements are held with organisations that represent persons with disabilities to improve their participation.
• Assistance provided to public bodies to develop policies to institutionalize the EPWP as well as proposed

Discussion
Ms D Kohler-Barnard (DA) asked why a low percentage was achieved in social sector and infrastructure sector performance and why some provinces were able to be the biggest spenders whereas other were the lowest spenders, who was responsible to oversee Integrated Grants at municipal and provincial level, was there a report on how money for training was spent and about the nexus between the EPWP and DHET.

Mr M Filtane (UDM) asked if individuals trained by EPWP would be able to start their own business or could be employed or would they remain unemployed. He asked why the reported population demographics did not mention men, how the DPW was going to restructure the EPWP for it to attract youth and thus increase their participation, why it appeared that some province were participating to a lesser extent, if figures of participants could be compared, and why there were no learnership programmes in some provinces. He commented that work opportunities could be implemented in a socio-economic context and thus training programmes could be social in nature, more particularly to deal with economic hardships. To achieve this, all graduates could be absorbed by the work opportunities programme. The programme was an enabler, implying that it should equip individuals with marketable skills that would enable them to find placements.

Ms S Kopane (DA) asked what extra measures were put in to ensure that all provinces were assisted in making a remarkable change in the context of unemployment and why achievement in work opportunities was still low, if the achievement is compared with the current picture of youth unemployment.

Ms P Adams (ANC) asked about the age classification for women and youth participants. Considering there was just four months left until 30 June, would the EPWP integrated grant target be achieved? Should there be a standardised annual performance plan which the public sector should be aligned to? How was selection done with regards to individuals pursuing the artisan development programme and learnership programmes? She asked whether the graduates were employed and if the automobile sector had been approached for the purpose of funding training and learnership programmes.

Ms E Masehela (ANC) asked why certain provinces had managed to spend most of the budget allocated to them, whether other DPW programmes used to empower individuals were suspended or sustained, and why certain provinces did nothing about artisan development.

Ms D Mathebe (ANC) welcomed the presentation. She expressed her concern about the progress in the training and learnership programmes which were at a slow pace. The EPWP should take into account that it was designed to address the critical national issue of unemployment.

In response, Deputy Minister Cronin acknowledged that the EPWP had been around since 2004. In its first phase, 5 million people were targeted whereas in the second phase 4.5 million unemployed individuals were targeted. In the subsequent phase the targeted number decreased. The EPWP was achieving more than the evidential figures provided. Challenges included delays in the submission of reports by municipalities. In some situations, lists of participants could not be provided as there were no signed attendance registers of participants. Put plainly, there were a higher number of unreported activities. They were not accounting officers. Other factors that could work to the disadvantage of the programme included corruption. Issues of corruption and fraud needed to be investigated. However, it could not be denied that hundreds of thousands of South Africans were benefiting from the EPWP. There was also the problem of having provinces and municipalities controlled or governed by different political parties. Mixed management could also delay the implementation of the programme or have an adverse impact on programme performance due to political disagreement. It was not the DPW’s fault that the work opportunities have not been reported on regularly.

On the question of the figure for male participants, Deputy Minister Cronin responded that if women participants were 70%, men participants were 30%. He remarked that the question posed by Mr Filtane was patriarchal in character.

On the participants’ age classification, Deputy Minister Cronin responded that most women participants were usually between 30 and 40 years old. He remarked that violence was a major problem in society. He referred members to a research document handed out to members. The research illustrated how people died in gang fighting; the programme was doing a wonderful work in order to educate the population about social violence.

Mr Ignatius Ariyo: Chief Director: EPWP Infrastructure Sector, stressed that if money was not spent by a province or municipality, the money had to be returned to National Treasury. Indeed, expenditure at all levels was varied. If a municipality or province was poorly performing or if there was a delay in implementing the project, no money could be released, unless reasonable grounds were given.

Mr Ariyo said certain programmes were adopted to provide work opportunities to unemployed people. Worthwhile mentioning was the road maintenance programme which recruited many people. Programmes such as road maintenance programme were helping participants who had been trained. Individuals trained by the EPWP were still active in the programme. However, there was no guarantee that they would be employed after exiting the programme.

With regards to training and learnership programmes, individuals were equipped with skills on the basis of the curriculum designed in accordance with South African Qualification Authority (SAQA) requirements. The EPWP collaborated with various departments including the Department of Small Business Development. This department helped the EPWP to train people in running a small business. Again, the DHET was collaborating. Looking at what the country wanted to achieve, that is, the reduction in unemployment, the National Skills Fund was utilised by empowering individuals in need of critical skills. In so doing, the EPWP was not duplicating education and training programmes.

The EPWP did not set the target at provincial and national level. Rather, money was released if it was satisfied with the existing performance.

Deputy Minister Cronin reminded members that education, training and learnship programmes were neither the EPWP’s major focus nor its primary responsibility. It was concerned with creating work opportunities.

On the question of whether individuals were working full-time or part time, Mr Ayola responded that some individuals were working full time while other were working part time.

The Chairperson remarked that it was the responsibility of the Committee to assess how entities were carrying out their responsibilities and whether they were complying with their mandate. Members were at liberty to provide guidance on how to improve performance. They should not only criticise the performance.

The meeting was adjourned.