South Africa will hold national and provincial elections on 29 May 2024. With an official unemployment rate of 32.1%, most political parties have job creation at the top of their agendas.
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the programme in 2024, president Cyril Ramaphosa claimed that the EPWP had created a total of 14 million “work opportunities”. Ramaphosa also leads the ruling African National Congress . These work opportunities are often relatively short-term and do not offer the same benefits and pay as other public sector employment. For example, the EPWP pays a minimum wage of R15.16 per hour, which is lower than the national minimum wage of R27.58 per hour. However, the EPWP sees these opportunities as a vital way of providing income and alleviating poverty for the otherwise unemployed.
The Department of Public Works, which oversees the EPWP, publishes quarterly updates on the number of work opportunities, but does not keep a running total, and has not released a public report on the overall status of the EPWP since 2013. The EPWP is not the only public employment programme in the country. The newer Presidential Employment Stimulus created 1.6 million new work opportunities between its launch in October 2020 and December 2023.
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