Johannesburg has beaten its jobs creation target for the last year by 18 percent, earning it the Best Metropolitan Municipality award from the Department of Public Works.

In Lawley, community members were employed to construct VIP toilets

JOB creation in the unskilled sector is growing in leaps and bounds through Johannesburg's Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP). Over the last financial year, the City created 35 500 new job opportunities through 168 projects under this programme.

This amounted to 18 percent more jobs created than was originally targeted for this period.

And for this performance the City of Johannesburg walked away with the Best Metropolitan Municipality award from the national Department of Public Works. It was handed over at the second annual Kamoso Awards ceremony, held at Gallagher Estate on 17 July. The Kamoso (tomorrow) Awards, includes all four sectors embraced by the EPWP: infrastructure; economic; environment and culture; and social.

On site: manager for the City's Extended Public Works Programme Lulama Ndlovu chats to learner contractor, Collen Raphasha

At the same ceremony, City Parks scooped the Best Project Municipal award and Joburg Water won Best Project Maintenance for Operation Gcin'amanzi. In total, 15 awards were given to various EPWP projects across the country. The overall winner in the municipal/departmental category was Roads Agency Limpopo.

Lulama Ndlovu, the manager for the City's EPWP programme, says the awards are in recognition of Johannesburg's excellent record in implementing the public works programme. Joburg has increased job opportunities year on year since the EPWP programme began in 2004. Its target for the 2008/09 financial year is to create 40 000 jobs.

Participants in the programme also boost their chances of future employment. Of this year's group, almost a third also received accredited and non-accredited training while on the job. The accreditation is done by the national Department of Labour.

Operation Gcin'amanzi
Over 11 000 jobs were created through Operation Gcin'amanzi alone and some 477 plumbers and contractors were trained.

It was initiated as a pilot project in Phiri, Soweto in 2003 with the objective of reducing the massive water losses incurred through the ageing water infrastructure of Soweto. At the same time, the programme promotes ongoing water conservation. Operation Gcin'amanzi has since been extended to 15 districts in Soweto.

City Parks
A number of labour-intensive projects were initiated by City Parks over the past financial year with the sole aim of creating short-term jobs for the unemployed in local communities.

Projects included the development of Cosmo City Park, Mapetla Park, Eldorado Park, Bram Fischerville Park, and work at the Diepsloot Cemetery Park and on the stormwater system.

City Parks commits a substantial amount of its annual budget allocation to its EPWP projects. The Johannesburg Roads Agency and Joburg Water have likewise committed to the programme and have appointed permanent champions to run their EPWP projects.

According to Ndlovu, the public works programmes are meant as an exit strategy out of poverty. "The programmes aim to make a person more competitive in the open job market."

The EPWP targets only unskilled, semi-skilled and unemployed people. The City of Johannesburg has set a target of creating 120 000 jobs by June 2009. In turn, the country hopes to create one million jobs by the same deadline.

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