Evaluation of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP)

Universally, there's a common understanding that little undertakings contribute colossally to financial improvement (Thwala & Phaladi, 2009). Croswell and McCutcheon (2001) contend that temporary workers can be financially valuable on the off chance that ventures are outlined to suit their capacity.

The Extended Public Works Program (EPWP) was started in 2004 as one of government's foremost open work programs underneath the Anti-Poverty Technique Points to draw huge numbers of unemployed human creatures into beneficial work by way of preparing. ((SACN), 2017)

These plans offer a short-term security net and longer-term back for the destitute women, youth and individuals with inabilities within the nation through work whereas at the same time giving abilities and preparing them fundamentally to keep them employable.

(Zimmermann, 2014)

(Mfusi, 2014) also mentions that the EPWP is an across the country program that includes the reorientation of open division use on products and administrations to draw significant numbers of the unemployed individuals into profitable work, so that labourers can harvest abilities while they work, and also extend their capacity to form a living.

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Openings for executing the EPWP have been distinguished within the framework, natural, social and financial divisions. (Department of Public Works, 2015) Within the foundation segment the accentuation is on making extra work openings through the presentation of labour-intensive development strategies. (McCutcheon & Parkins, 2009)

The program is additionally cantered on progressing the instruction framework to preparing in a way that better prepares the workforce to entail up to a great extent capable work openings which financial development will produce. (Mokhathi, 2015)

EPWP Phase one (1) was from April 2004 to March 2009, and its stated target of one (1) million work opportunities was met one (1) year earlier than envisaged, which paved the way for the planning and implementation of EPWP Phase 2 (Department of Public Works, 2012:13).

Phase two (2) of the EPWP was from the year 2009 till 2014 with the objective of creating 4.5 million work opportunities for poor and unemployed people in South Africa to contribute to halving unemployment by 2014, through the delivery of public works and community services (McCutcheon, 2018:53).

The intention was to ensure that EPWP enables government to act as an employer of last resort as part of the Anti-Poverty. The EPWP Phase 2 has seen new developments which including the introduction of the Non-State sector, which has two programmes, namely Community Work Programme and Non-profit Organisation programme, and the National, Provincial and Municipal EPWP Incentive (Department of Public Works, 2014).

Phase Three (3) was from 2014 till 2019 the main objective were to provide work opportunities to five million people and Infrastructure two million within the infrastructure industry, the threat in the achievement of these projections is particularly the case for the infrastructure sector, for which employment projections have been based on a labour intensity of about 26%, whereas the average achieved during the first two phases was only 10% (McCutcheon, 2018:37).

Phase Four of the EPWP is to be applied in 2019 and is set to last for the subsequent 5 years, the objectives of this segment are to supply expanded training / large-scale programme through growth of the demonstration/initial training into a large-scale programme (Department of Pulic Works, 2017:8).

Successful enlargement can only take area at the rate to which the local institutions can productively absorb these skilled personnel; equally, whether the countrywide organization is capable to absorb (McCutcheon, 2018:65).

The Government's business methodology of the EPWP is based on two presumptions, i) that financial development will lead to expanded business, and ii) that progressed instruction will empower labourers to necessitate the skilled employment openings which is able to emerge as a result of financial development (EPWP, 2004), and consequently approaches are cantered around advancing development and instruction. (McCord, 2004:1).

It is in any case basic to note that the EPWP employment are impermanent, which at any one period a concentrated of 200,000 individuals will be advertised - the occupations may not be considered additively, that's to say it isn't 200,000 in year one, rising to 400,000 in year two and so on. The EPWP is both too limited in scale, and too short in duration to have a significant impact on unemployment.

From this time forward the EPWP does not essentially guarantee or offer a significant reaction to the wide-ranging unemployment catastrophe directly being experienced by the Free State. (McCord, 2004)

Also suggests that, although EPWP is likely to reduce, temporarily, the depth of poverty experienced, improving labour supply quality through training and experience may have only a negligible impact when the key constraint is on the demand rather than supply side and this is support by the statement that says EPWP should be viewed as complementary to social grants, and not as an alternative to social grants, because they cannot provide for all of those who are in need. (Phillips, 2004:2)

However, arguably, (Phillips, 2004) also testifies that the fact that the infrastructure sector of the EPWP is reinforced by funds which have been entitled for the conveyance of infrastructure means that a considerable amount of additional employment can be generated without setting extra difficulties on the fescues.