Durban — The eThekwini Municipality has been given the go-ahead to renew the contracts of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) participants that end on Friday.
Various political parties in eThekwini, aside from the DA, supported the matter at the eThekwini full council meeting on Thursday.
The city will now extend the EPWP projects for three months, from the first of October until funding is found for 2022/23 during the budget adjustment.
City manager Musa Mbhele has been authorised to sign the Memorandum of Agreement on behalf of eThekwini Municipality with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) to receive the Incentive Grant (IG) for the 2022/23 financial year.
The city has to find additional funding to supplement the 2022/23 financial year IG received from DPWI.
The eThekwini Municipality’s EPWP programme is part of the approved Integrated Development Plan with the main objective of reducing unemployment, providing short-term income relief, as well as providing and facilitating access to training for the previously disadvantaged and the unemployed, enhancing their chances of being successful in securing permanent employment.
The EPWP methodology is to expand the current delivery of goods and services to ensure economic growth and ensure development integration across all sectors, said mayor Mxolisi Kaunda during the exco meeting.
EThekwini Municipality has been given a target to create 83 893 work opportunities during 2019 to 2024.
The EPWP programme currently has 4538 participants under the IG-funded projects, a reduction from 5800. The participants’ stipends are in line with the council resolution dated October 30 2018. Currently, all these participants are on contracts that lapsed at the end of June. The programme will receive an IG of R61 257 00 for the 2022/23 financial year from DPWI.
An Exco report stated that the challenge facing the city was that the grant from the national government did not suffice to sustain the current EPWP programmes. This, therefore, means the city should supplement the budget.
“The EPWP participants have to come and sign physically at the offices. This has eliminated the notion of ghost workers,” Kaunda said.
eThekwini Municipality will receive a R61 257 000 grant from DPWI to fund the projects for the 2022/23 financial year. The estimated expenditure for the 2022/23 financial year is R262 534 746 hence the council funding required is R201 227 746.
The municipality’s chief financial officer now has the task of identifying savings during the budget adjustment period, in order to sustain the stability of the EPWP programmes which are aimed at reducing unemployment and poverty.
The IFP Exco member Mdu Nkosi questioned why the report was tabled at such a late stage, stating that officials were not serious about doing their work.
DA eThekwini caucus leader and Exco member Thabani Mthethwa questioned why the city recruited more people than budgeted for.
Daily News