Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) progress report, with Deputy Minister

Public Works and Infrastructure

28 February 2017
Chairperson: Mr B Martins (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Deputy Minister of Public Works led the presentation on the EPWP Progress Report to the Committee. The report focused on Phase 3 performance against targets, the impact of EPWP on communities, the Technical Support given to municipalities and other data-capturing entities, and the development of the Training and Enterprise Development aspects of the Programme.

The Committee asked questions about the reasonableness of the targets for creating work opportunities, what the problems are where targets are falling short, and what measures are being put in place to deal with the challenges.

Meeting report

Deputy Minister of Public Works, Jeremy Cronin, was present, accompanied by Mr Stanley Henderson, Deputy Director General: EPWP, Ms Carmen-Joy Abrahams, Chief Director: EPWP Partnership Support, Dr Eric Musekene, Chief Director: EPWP Monitoring and Evaluation, and Mr D Pillay, Chief Director: EPWP Convergence and Public Employment Programme Inter-Ministerial Committee (PEP-IMC).

Mr Stanley Henderson, Deputy Director General: EPWP, said that Public Works was responding to the request from the Portfolio Committee to present the progress of the EPWP and that they would take the liberty of adding a bit more about the programme in order to speak beyond the numbers that people get sidetracked by, to talk about the true value of the programme. An update on performance against targets was provided, and issues such as the creation of assets, services delivered, training, enterprise development initiatives, key challenges and how the challenges are being mitigated would be covered.

Ms Carmen-Joy Abrahams, Chief Director: EPWP Partnership Support, noted that the cumulative five-year target for EPWP Phase 3 is 6 million work opportunities, while the cumulative Year 3 target (April 2014- March 2017) is 3.5 million work opportunities. By the end of the third quarter of 2016/17, the programme achieved 2.3 million work opportunities against the 5-year target which is at 36.7% against the 6 million target and 67% against the 3-year target. For the programme to achieve the 3-year target of 3.5 million work opportunities, it will have to create 1.1 million work opportunities in the fourth quarter of the current financial year.

The Infrastructure Sector performance was measured at 62% of its 3-year target and at 33% of its 5-year target. The Environment & Culture Sector achieved 72% of the 3-year target, and 43% of the 5-year target. This Sector reported 126,193 work opportunities, which represents 55% of its annual work opportunity target.

The Social Sector achieved 71% of the 3-year target, and 42% against the 5-year target. This Sector reported 97 852 work opportunities, which translates to 48% of its annual work opportunity target.

The Non-State Sector collectively contributed 601 374 work opportunities from 1 April 2014 to 31 December 2016. The Community Work Programme reported 443 661 work opportunities, translating to 59% against the 3-year target of 746 000 work opportunities, and 30% against the 5-year target of 267 000 work opportunities. The Non-Profit Organisations reported 157 713 work opportunities, translating to 103% against the 3-year target of 153 000 work opportunities, and 59% against the 5-year target of 267 000 work opportunities.

Performance was also measured against annual (2016-17) work opportunities per Sector, and against annual (2016-17) work opportunity targets (municipal and provincial).

Samples of outputs from the first to third quarters measuring the impact of EPWP by the Environment & Culture Sector, the Infrastructure Sector, the Non-State Sector and the Social Sector were also provided. A short video was shown to illustrate output.

Core functions of the Technical Support offered by EPWP were summarised as identification of suitable projects; setting targets for projects; assisting with designs and contract documentation; extracting project training needs; assisting with procurement processes; creating enabling conditions (for example, wage rates and contractor training); contract management; reporting; project evaluation, and EPWP mainstreaming. A summary of technical support provided to municipalities, by province, was provided.

Technical Support has achieved the alignment of tender documentation and bill of quantities to Labour Intensive Construction (LIC) methods; provided infrastructure inputs on 160 municipal policies; conducted 250 site visits; held twelve labour-intensive reorientation workshops on LIC methods and provided advice to municipalities on getting accredited NQF level 5 and 7 qualifications for their officials; held engagements with the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), Sedibeng Water, Lepelle Water, Coega, Eskom and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) on the alignment of projects to EPWP requirements.

The measures being taken to improve the impact of Technical Support are holding engagements with the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCG) and the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (MISA) to coordinate support to municipalities by monitoring EPWP Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) projects; capacitation of municipal officials in labour-intensive methods through labour-intensive reorientation workshops; development of guidelines and implementation manuals to help officials in the design and implementation of projects in compliance with EPWP requirements; and engagements with the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) to provide technical support to municipalities in the design and development of environmental projects.

Technical Support in the Social Sector and the Environment & Culture Sector included the identification of sector-specific programmes or projects; project planning and design in line with EPWP sector-specific guidelines; project implementation; reporting support through system training, data capturing of participants, uploading of IDs into the system; monitoring of projects to ensure compliance with Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA) requirements, and assisting with branding of the EPWP projects.

Training has been part of EPWP from the very beginning. Phase 1 saw training as mandatory, whereas in Phase 2 it remained critical but non-mandatory. The aim of including training was to ensure that there was skilled labour that was relevant to a project during implementation. However, training also assists with placing learners for exit-level opportunities.

During Phase 2 there were some challenges in the achievement of targets due to limited training providers, insufficient funding and delayed procurement processes. Phase 3 of EPWP emphasises accredited training implementation, which highlights the importance of training and its instrumental role in facilitating the required skills to enhance the quality of project implementation.

The provision of skills to EPWP participants is critical and the main goal is for the EPWP participants to be able to perform the required tasks on the project they work on and to enhance their skills so that they can function productively in the workplace, find related jobs, undertake further training or start small businesses.

In EPWP, training is provided in all four Sectors, and it is implemented in all nine provinces and across all three spheres of government (national, provincial and local). The EPWP endeavours to provide accredited training to its beneficiaries in the forms of short courses, skills programmes, learnerships and artisan development programmes.

In Phase 2 the EPWP received limited funding from the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) through the National Skills Fund (NSF) and also from the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETA) discretionary grants. From 2010, the DPW was able to apply for funds from the NSF for the training of EPWP participants. EPWP was awarded R369 million and was expected to achieve the following targets:
25,000 for Short Courses
531 for Learnership Programmes
109 for Artisan Development Programme Phase I
71 for Artisan Development Programme Phase II
The total is 25 711 and the total achievement was 23 757.

Ms Abrahams reported that 151 learner artisans were in training, and 21 had passed the trade test. Out of 180 learnerships, four learners dropped out and four were dismissed. A breakdown of numbers by province was also provided for skills programmes as well as for learnerships and artisan development.

The Financial Services Board (FSB) and the EPWP entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to provide personal financial education to 5 000 EPWP participants across the four Sectors in four provinces – Gauteng, Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga. The FSB appointed a training provider to conduct 200 workshops in these provinces, and the training was divided into two phases:
Phase 1: 100 workshops were implemented between 18 July 2016 and 31 August 2016.
Phase 2: 100 follow-up workshops were implemented between 1 October 2016 and 30 November 2016 for the same participants.

Training content included money management, the importance of a budget, understanding the true cost of debt and a personal action plan. Learning outcomes were to assist participants with understanding the difference between savings and investments, the concepts of inflation and interest, the requirements of the Financial Advisor and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act, different financial services products, and the available complaints process. A breakdown of participation attendance for both workshops per province was provided. The FSB has secured funding for a Phase 2, which will be aimed at 7 500 participants in five provinces (Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape, Free State and Kwazulu-Natal); implementation is expected in June 2017.

In 2011, during Phase II of the EPWP, the branch developed a general EPWP course entitled ‘The up-scaling and mainstreaming of the EPWP: a practitioner’s guide’. The aim was to enhance a common understanding of the Sector programmes and the cross-cutting units by implementers, policy makers, politicians and new employees.

In April 2016 the DPW Supply Chain Management appointed a service provider to review, amend and develop the existing learning material packages in line with EPWP Phase 3. A reference team consisting of Sector Specialists in the seven units was formed to co-ordinate the review engagements with the service provider.

The objective of EPWP Enterprise Development is to support participants in their quest to start and operate businesses, thereby promoting sustainable livelihoods, as well as to contribute to the creation of work opportunities and income support to poor and unemployed people.

Currently EPWP is supporting various enterprises at differing stages of development. Many EPWP enterprises fall within the survivalists and micro enterprises. The EPWP wants to ensure that the support it offers leads to enterprise growth.

Current EPWP Sector sub-programmes (that is, with an Enterprise Development process component) include the Vuk’uphile contractor development programme, DPW SMMEs and cooperatives, PRASA cleaning cooperatives, non-state sector SMME programmes, school nutrition cooperatives, National DPW’s National Youth Service (NYS) Programme, Working for Water, Working for Wetlands, and the Value Added Industries programme.

A video was shown to illustrate EPWP’s impact on enterprise development in the Northern Cape.

The Department of Public Works offers support with the assessments of EPWP participants and proposed enterprise development ideas or initiatives by way of pre-viability and diagnostic assessments; assistance in starting a small business in the development of the marketing plan, costing of products and services, and financial planning, where feasible; helping enterprises improve business management and operations; supporting enterprises to identify markets and apply for funding through government grants and/or loans; assisting enterprises with registration and statutory compliance; and referring EPWP participants and enterprises to other enterprise development agencies for support.

The ILO Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) programme is a management training programme with a focus on starting and improving small businesses, as a strategy for creating more and better employment for women and men, particularly in developing economies. ILO SIYB aims to create jobs by enabling potential and existing small entrepreneurs to start viable businesses, increase profitability, and improve the working conditions of their employees in a way that enhances productivity. SIYB consists of three separate but related programmes: Generate Your Business Idea, Start Your Business, and Improve Your Business. The progress of Enterprise Development was listed, with the number of SMMEs supported per province. The total number is 251.

Some examples of partnerships with other government departments are the Semeleng Sewing Cooperative Limited, which was appointed by the Department of Social Development to deliver 1350 cricket hats to the National Youth Camp; the Kgatelo Pele Sewing Primary Cooperative Limited, which received grant funding from the Department of Small Business Development (DSBD) to purchase a container, sewing machines and material; Majeng Catering, which received assistance in registering; CAO Youth Construction and Project, which received funding from the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) to purchase construction tools; and the Samma Primary Cooperative Limited, which received funding from DSBD to purchase chickens, feed and build a run. In the third quarter of 2016/17, 49 SMMEs had received SIYB training.

The key programme challenges are non-reporting and/or under-reporting of work opportunities created through own funding by public bodies: some key programmes such as the Community Work Programme (CWP), with the potential to report over 220 000 work opportunities, currently reports less than 8% for this financial year; many public bodies do not incorporate EPWP principles during their planning and budget processes, so they are not meeting EPWP targets; delays by reporting bodies in capturing the data on the EPWP Reporting System (EPWP-RS) before the quarter ends due to lack of capacity to collect required documentation for reporting; and poor record-keeping by public bodies, leading to an inability to comply with reporting requirements. For example, site visit reports indicate 15% of the visited projects did not keep certified copies of participants’ IDs.

Measures put in place to address these challenges include identifying and engaging with under-performing and under-reporting public bodies to resolve the problems and create a data recovery plan; developing action plans to collect the required data and capturing on the EPWP-RS; providing continuous data capturing support through data capturing sessions, training and capacity building to the reporting bodies that experience challenges in capturing data; monitoring improvements in reporting through the weekly variance reports that are generated from the system and communicated to all the reporting bodies; all public and reporting bodies with excluded projects are notified on a regular basis and encouraged to correct the projects on the EPWP-RS; providing technical support to ensure the implementation and proper record-keeping, especially documents specified in the Ministerial Determination.

Discussion
The Chairperson thanked the delegation for the presentation. In his opinion, the videos would have been more effective if the participants interviewed were shown in the context of the workplace using their new machines, instead of as interviewees simply responding directly to questions.

Mr K Sithole (IFP) asked how many wards have benefitted from the progress made by the EPWP, and what kind of assistance was being given to the three provinces (Free State, Northern Cape and North West) that are performing poorly against annual work opportunity targets. He noted that achievements were shown for output impacts but that no targets were indicated. He asked for more information (numbers and provinces) about municipal officials who have been capacitated.

Mr M Filtane (UDM) asked how many jobs are still being kept, and which EPWP Sectors will help to get the balance right in the last quarter of 2016/17. What is the highest academic qualification of the participants who take advantage of these work opportunities? Is the current national curriculum helping the EPWP to find appropriately qualified people for the various programmes? How many foreigners, if any, are benefitting from the programme? By how much has the GINI coefficient moved to the positive side? He expressed concern about training people how to access government funding when there are limited opportunities for government funding. Are the participants also being trained on how to access funds from the private sector? Where are the trainees sent for experiential training? On whose land are these projects being conducted?

Ms D Kohler Barnard (DA) asked if the EPWP was falling behind in meeting its targets, as in the current Year 3 of the cumulative five-year target it is at 36.7%. Performance in the Infrastructure Sector is worrying. She noted that the 2016 performance against annual work opportunity targets was highest in the Eastern Cape, and asked if that was necessarily a good thing. Did these figures indicate backlogs or other delays? She also expressed concern that the DPW may be drifting outside its mandate. The EPWP programme was not envisaged as a creator of permanent jobs, and skills training is done at training institutions. Do the learning programmes indicate mandate creep (as laudable as they may be)? How successful is the EPWP at overcoming the problems identified by the Auditor-General, such as bad reporting?

Mr Henderson replied that the videos had been made in quite a hurry, and only short excerpts were shown. Greater context and background has actually been recorded. Detailed records of data relating to wards had been kept, and he would be able to forward this information to the Committee later. The implementation in municipalities is usually linked to the processes by which they implement Integrated Development Plans (IDPs).

Where provinces show good results, there are one or two strong key programmes that have been developed, rather than smaller ad hoc projects. This also helps with budget appropriation. The EPWP advocates for the replication of successful programmes, but less success has been experienced in other provinces than in the Eastern Cape. A large degree of under-reporting is evident, so a data recovery plan has been put together, albeit with limited resources, and analyses drawn from that. In the last quarter, after having received inadequate figures from some provinces, much more assistance was given, but that is not reflected in the current figures. Performance against targets has to be reflected at all times, otherwise it is not clear what is being measured.

Ms Abrahams said that the training targets were not specifically per province. The EPWP has an engagement with the provinces whereby it highlights the training available and assists with helping the projects apply for funds across all provinces. Public bodies have a choice as to the most appropriate funding to apply for, with placement of participants in mind.

Approximately 200 municipal officials have been trained on the EPWP programme, and this year 360 officials have completed the learning programme.

When participants are accepted onto a programme, their highest qualification is not recorded; that is done in mid-term reviews. Participants have generally not completed their high school qualifications.

Deputy Minister Cronin said that approximately 70% of participants have not completed matric. In terms of the GINI coefficient, this is an aggregate, and EPWP would be a subset. As far as private funding is concerned, the EPWP is faced with fiscal constraints, especially in terms of the training mandate, so they are always looking for new partnerships and engagements, in order to create sustainable livelihoods in communities, and create a demand in a community to ensure that money continues to circulate.

Ms Abrahams said that, with experiential training, 100% of artisans are placed with private companies, for example, Volkswagen. Partnerships are relied on to meet artisan and supervisory requirements. Sometimes the companies are very small. EPWP has been working with thirty companies recently who were able to ensure that training requirements were met, in order for the participants to qualify. As co-ordinators, the EPWP works on building partnerships as opposed to working face-to-face with a company.

She said 2,3 million work opportunities have been created to date. The overall performance is over five years, and is seen as improving. The first year was good. Controls have been improved, and there are definite improvements with the various public bodies.

In the Northern Cape, the project data was not being gathered timeously, then suddenly on 16 January the province managed to achieve about 2 000 work opportunities. Data capturing sessions were run to try and understand where the bottleneck was, and regularly weekly engagements are held in order to increase targets.

The key issues are data collection and inter-departmental infrastructure. Projects need to be designed correctly and not be under-reported. There are regular meetings with officials to address these issues and constantly check the variance reports.

On the topic of drifting from the mandate, the first point is always about partnerships and leveraging, so we engage various departments in order to get full assistance. Everything is linked. Some of the material is appropriate, such as financial advice, and small business development. Sometimes EPWP participants are unable to complete application forms for funding, so the EPWP helps with that.

The learning programmes cover all Sectors. 3 200 officials were trained and the records reflect the municipal breakdown. This is part of the EPWP’s second initiative, across all provinces. Before that, the training was with NQ level 5 and 7 over 1 200 officials across all provinces.

The land on which the programmes are run is usually municipal, although different public bodies are involved so it may sometimes be provincial departmental land. If it is a national project, the land would be owned by the relevant department.

Dr Eric Musekene, Chief Director: EPWP Monitoring and Evaluation, said that, at the last committee meeting, it was noted that a new reporting system had been developed. It is linked to Home Affairs on a real-time basis, and so the system verifies ID numbers immediately. All participants working in the EPWP programme can now be identified immediately. If a different surname is captured, but the ID number is correct, that is picked up. More than seven elements have been addressed, so the system is now integrating properly.

Linkage with the Department of Public Service and Administration has also been forged, because some people were reporting to EPWP but were also on the government payroll on a contract or permanent basis. A huge sense of accountability has been built into the system, in such a way that every person and every public body involved is responsible, for example, with capturing data, authorising data, checking information, contact numbers and email addresses. The EPWP follows up to ensure good quality reporting.

It has been indicated that some municipalities have been reporting well on the incentive projects but not reporting work opportunities on a day-to-day basis. Through Technical Support, and as part of change management, huge strides are being made. On some national projects, in the last quarter, more than 70 000 copies of work opportunities have been received that were previously not reported on.

Because participants are identified by passport numbers and ID numbers, when this data is captured in the system it will immediately be apparent whether the person is a legal or an illegal foreigner. If illegal, he or she will have no link with Home Affairs, so must be excluded. Reasons for exclusion are provided. Also, if there are participants who are participating in more than one project at a time, this is reflected on a list generated weekly and then given to the co-ordinating body. This process is working effectively.

From the perspective of social protection, the EPWP is making a huge contribution. The EPWP money that goes into the family, combined with grants and other income sources, improves status and dignity. It is a very positive impact.

Mr Devan Pillay, Chief Director: EPWP Convergence, said that the implementation of EPWP is through the line management of public bodies, and the budget does not lie with the National Department of Public Works, although the Minister of Public Works is responsible for it. That is the basis on which it is audited. The EPWP co-ordinates, monitors and records, and not all monies originate with the EPWP. The public body implementing the EPWP is responsible for recording valid proof of ID, proof of attendance, payment register and records of the participants. The auditor may request a list of projects and a list of participants, then double check with the public body concerned.

Municipalities face huge challenges, particularly with record keeping. The EPWP has little control of the administration at that level. Circulars are issued, communications and letters are sent, and the issues are raised on an ongoing basis through meetings and committees. The senior official is required to present all the requirements, but the public body only reports in terms of the documents they have, and information is not recorded if the public body does not have all the necessary documentation.

In 2016 the category of “deceased persons” was cleared out, and issues relating to gender, youth and so-called public servants were removed. The only issue still being grappled with is the non-compliance of public bodies in terms of Section 12.

Ms Abrahams said that participants who are able and willing to participate, do so on the basis of self-selection. The bulk of participants do not have matric, so an intended target group can be reached. Staff training is not a course offered directly by EPWP but expertise is sourced when and where needed. Labour-intensive training is traditionally given at a university or other institution.

Ms Kohler Barnard recalled that, in 2016, the statistics showed that the majority of applicants were women. The EPWP admitted that the youth target was not being reached. Considering the massive unemployment figures, has this changed? Also, is unspent money being returned to the Department at the end of each financial year, and if so, what are the amounts being returned by each province? Are municipalities responsible for setting up their own EPWP structures? Are they overseen by the EPWP, or how do they report?

Ms E Masehela (ANC) asked why allocations were being returned. Also of concern, since there are so many unemployed people, is that only two provinces show that they have achieved work opportunity targets. What is being done in crucial areas like the Eastern Cape? How do communities who identify needs apply for help? In rural areas, for example, there are no projects for the removal of refuse, and the situation is really bad. There are some tarred roads but no de-bushing takes place so accidents occur as animals are not visible. There have been complaints about the poor quality of EPWP construction projects, so how is good quality being ensured? How can the target of only 1,1 million, which is equivalent to 2.5%, be turned around?

Mr Filtane repeated his earlier questions: how many, if any, foreigners are being employed? Many local people are on the streets and they claim that foreigners are taking their jobs. EPWP is a reflection of government and this is a very critical issue right now. If accurate information was not at hand, he would be prepared to wait for up to a month to receive it. In the context of #FeesMustFall, the relevance of the curriculum is critical. What are South Africa’s students supposed to be studying for? He noted that he had been talking to a policewoman recently who told him about the rapes and abortions taking place on campuses, and yet the government is paying for these students. Some of them drink the money away. Does the curriculum speak to EPWP or is basic education teaching something entirely different? This links to the higher standard of people being employed in EPWP programmes. There is a master’s student who has to sell sweets in the township. This is the situation on the ground.

Mr Filtane said EPWP is more about temporary jobs, but we need a clearer idea of certain sectors, and the sustainability of the job itself, not the participant. Have the work opportunities remained the same or are the numbers dropping? Can we rely on this programme to sustain employment? Another issue since the inception of EPWP programmes is the amount of money that has paid to beneficiaries. The Department of Rural Development said recently that some communities in their programmes are not trainable because they need grades first. The Minister himself defended that statement. Is the EPWP finding that participants in the agricultural sector are trainable or not? Is it getting harder to train people?

The Chairperson said the Agricultural Portfolio Committee would have the necessary information about grade requirements.

Ms P Adams (ANC) noted that the EPWP has a very important role and touches lives in communities. She asked if the target of creating of 3.5 million work opportunities is realistic. What problems are encountered where areas have achieved poorly against their targets? What is DPW doing to improve the situation and what kind of support is being given? What are the lessons that provinces can learn from the more successful ones. Is the DPW going to give specific target support or help the provinces with that?

She noted 21 learner artisans out of 151 passed the trade tests, but is there a supplementary exam for those who did not pass? What support is being given to those learners who fall away or drop out? The workshops on financial management are very important and should be seen as part of a community enrichment programme and should be made readily available to people via radio, TV, etc.

Ms D Mathebe (ANC) said she was concerned that the money that participants were receiving monthly was insufficient to cover costs of food and transport. Can the DWP not get other funding so that participants can be paid more? Although the DPW claims to have trained 200 officials, the site visits report that IDs are not being recorded, so have the officials been trained properly? She also asked for clarification about municipalities working throughout a province.

Deputy Minister Cronin replied that the issues raised were all legitimate, but are broader than simply departmental. The significant crisis in South Africa is that 6,9 million people are unemployed. Many of these people are from households where parents and grandparents have never been employed. This is where dysfunctionality, drug abuse and xenophobia originate. The five-year target of 6 million work opportunities relies on resources and capacity. There is a huge gap where people over 18 and under 60, without disabilities, are not covered by the social grant system, are unemployed and the EPWP is only a partial and incomplete attempt to fill this gap. EPWP cannot solve all the problems or supply all the necessary training and interventions. It functions as a pathway to achieving sustainable livelihoods. Quarterly household surveys undertaken by Stats SA indicate that approximately 70% of people who participate in an EPWP programme go on to something else, which is very encouraging. Obviously we want to know what is happening to the 30% who do not.

Close to 50% of the 70% are in temporary jobs or in the informal sector, which is better than being unemployed. The EPWP programmes may also have helped with experience and confidence. Some participants have gone into formal employment, some have set up their own SMMEs and some are busy with further training.

For non-South African residents, we know how many exclusions there are (because those people do not have residence permits) but the position of our government is that legal non-South African residents have the right to access some of our social services and to participate in work opportunities. Some programmes have had the effect of creating peace: there is the example of a community work programme that has been working well for over two years now; people had been forcibly removed, one group one year and a second group the next. There was fighting over scarce resources. The Department of Social Development got people together to workshop and discuss issues and conflicts. A lot of the people were from Zimbabwe. A series of community work programmes were launched, such as constructing boreholes and building access roads, and this helped build unity in the community as a whole.

Targets are met by offering training in basic cooking, operating a sewing machine, and so on. The cost benefit of training means that the maximum possible number of people needs to be trained, as opposed to being on income support.

Deputy Minister Cronin said it is an outrageous statement to say that people are not trainable. Some courses may require a certain level of literacy or numeracy, but there are always skills and capacity and aptitude for agricultural projects and setting up co-operatives.

The stipend that participants are paid is merely a starting point, because many of the programmes offer temporary work that will then lead to something else. The stipends paid to EPWP participants cannot be compared to the national minimum wage because they are being assisted to develop other income streams down the line. The purpose of the stipend is to help launch that process.

On best practices, Dr Musekene replied that in the Eastern Cape there is one huge programme with more than 37 000 participants. The data is captured quickly and system-to-system linkage has been developed. The same model in Kwazulu-Natal is also improving.

The target of creating 1.1 million work opportunities in the fourth quarter is not the issue – the issue is the reporting of work opportunities, which is why reporting problems are being dealt with on an ongoing basis.

The information on the targets and achievements for the categories of men/women/disabled/youth and how much has been paid to date is that, in 2014/5, 51% of all participants were youth, 63% were women; 0.79% were disabled; R6.7 billion in wages was disbursed. In 2016 the youth dropped to 49.5%, women increased to 68.52% and disabled increased to 0.9%. Wages disbursed were R6.1 billion.

In the current financial year, youth is at 44% (which is below the EPWP target), women at 67.2% and disabled at 1.71%. The current component that goes towards wages is R3.4 billion.

As far as budgets are concerned, it is important to understand that the incentive grant is not the only funding available. Public bodies are expected to use their own budgets and to contribute towards infrastructure projects.

For 2015/16, money not spent had to be returned to the fiscus. Municipalities’ expenditure was 97%, so the returns were not big. The challenge is that public bodies are not using all their budgets, which affects the EPWP adversely as well.

The quality of assets in terms of infrastructure is related directly to the definite specifications that have to be met, and the technical and economic feasibility of the project. A greater number of labour-intensive projects of high quality, is being reflected. The Eastern Cape is doing well, the systems are linked and there is good co-ordination between different institutions.

Ms Abrahams replied that EPWP training depends on the funding they are able to secure. Calculations based on the targets indicate that the average cost of training is R15 000 per beneficiary. If more than 5 000 people are trained, the cost would exceed R6 billion. This is the reason for the alignment with the National Skills Development Strategy, in order to achieve longer-term interventions. New partnerships are constantly being sought, but it takes time to vet institutions in terms of government compliance, tax clearance, etc, before an agreement can be reached.

It is recognised that, while people are trainable, not everything leads to a certification. A lot of practical courses are offered with future projects and opportunities in mind. This is a comprehensive and long-term strategy. 2017/18 is going to be good in terms of artisan development. The training has been on-going so some people are due to become fully qualified. EPWP merged well with MerSETA, which structured how EPWP engaged with the learners; they are visited on a quarterly basis, because learner discipline can be an issue.

Ways to expand the partnership with FSB are being looked for, but FSB is the custodian of this programme. It would be ideal if every public body was able to offer financial management training as part of their induction process and life orientation skills. It is important to see what is being achieved in communities beyond the creation of work opportunities. A mechanism is required to check on this because the indirect benefits of EPWP are not the primary target.

Deputy Minister Cronin said that the Community Work Programme has been in correspondence with the Director-General of COCTA and that more working sessions will be set up to deal with the matter, because it is clear that not all information reported is getting through. It is vital to be able to report as accurately as possible.

The target of creating 6 million work opportunities may not be met because the challenges are tough, and run across party municipalities. If there is underachievement on the target, the qualitative importance of what we are doing needs to be shown. We are saying that the developmental impact is very significant.

The examples of the achievements made by Technical Support to the municipalities indicate that good quality is ensured and cost components are being optimised. The 250 site visits served to ensure adherence to policy requirements. Twelve labour-intensive reorientation workshops were held, to assist municipal officials, and constant measures are being taken to improve the impact of Technical Support.

There is a clear indication of the emphasis we place on accredited training and quality training to improve project implementation. In 2010, R369 million was received from the National Skills Fund, and more has been applied for.

The meeting was adjourned.

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