Programme director, Mr Mothusi Loeto
Kgosi AS Lethogile
The reverend, Pastor Madoda Bkiwa
Senior managers and staff from the department present here today
Our honoured guests of the day, Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and National Youth Service (NYS) beneficiaries
Good morning to you all
Thank you very much for extending a special invitation to my office for this occasion. I am indeed humbled and feel honoured to be part of this important gathering, to join in the celebration for the job well done. This is a third similar occasion I am now attending in the past two month. Yours, which was postponed to today, is the second biggest group of beneficiaries compared to Bojanala, Rustenburg.
I am informed, programme director, that in total, 212 Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and National Youth Service (NYS) beneficiaries will today receive certificates. In Bojanala district we had 230 and in Dr Kenneth Kaunda, I had a privilege of awarding 85 beneficiaries their certificates. I hope to perform the same ritual, in Ngaka Modiri Molema, Mafikeng, in about a weeks from now. 60 beneficiaries will also be decorated there.
Ladies and gentlemen and distinguished guests, the programmes EPWP and NYS which you have gone through, seek to address critical areas in our society. It is an initiative by government, to empower you with skills which can enable you to become an entrepreneur. You can also graduate to become employable because the accredited certificate you will be issued with put you in good standing to compete in the job market.
Because you would be able to sustain a livelihood, poverty and joblessness can be kept at a minimum. EPWP was never designed to create permanent employment. It is an initiative by government to arm people like you with skills that can assist beneficiaries to explore opportunities to earn a decent living. That explains why you were trained in trades such as paving, painting, carpentry, bricklaying, plastering plumbing including tiling for example. In case you have not heard this. We as government and the department are gradually beginning to realising the impact we are making even though limited. But we can still do more.
For example, in Dr Kenneth Kaunda, one of your counterparts has already been sub-contracted to one of the housing construction company in that area. In Bojanala, some of the beneficiaries with a passion for carpentry have started a business in coffin making and a furnisher mini factory the Rustenburg area. I am also informed that some of the past graduates from this district formed a paving company in Taung.
I mention these examples to illustrate that there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel, provided you keep trying hard enough. What I would prefer to see happen also, is that my department should be seen to supporting such companies without flaunting the rules. We have to try harder to put your skills to test with contracts for small projects so that you too can grow. If you growing, there is a potential that you would become employers in your respective areas, if you create jobs you also change the lives of many others in your neighbourhood.
Ladies and gentlemen, the 212 EPWP and NYS beneficiaries gathered here, participated in six projects situated in this district. 60 of the EPWP beneficiaries were based at Armoedvlaakte agricultural farm and Monchosi Secondary School. 52 NYS beneficiaries were evenly spread in four projects which were:
Bray Immediate School, Tlapeng Primary School in Taung, Mini Garona Offices in Vryburg and Macho Primary School in Morokweng. The breakdowns of all beneficiaries were: males 88, women 124, youth 208 and adults four.
In conclusion programme director, let us put hands together in congratulating these beneficiaries for their dedication and also wish them, the best of the best as they venture into anther terrain. May I also mention that my department will up-scale the number of beneficiaries during the next phase of the programme called, EPWP phase two.
Phase two of EPWP is earmarked by government as one of the flagship programmes to create sustainable livelihood for households, especially in rural areas. We are not doing well at the moment, but we have to up the pace run like the Brahman calves. We hope to roll out this programme especially on our entire roads project including the roads in your villages in this district. We hope in doing so we can make maximum impact as a contribution to rural development.
Together we can do more. Congratulations and good luck to all of you.
Ke a leboga
Pula!!!
Contact:
Matshube Mfoloe
Tel: 018 387 2447
Cell: 082 305 4594
E-mail: mmfoloe@nwpg.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport, North West Provincial Government
6 November 2009
Source: Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport, North West Provincial Government (http://www.nwpg.gov.za/Public%20Works/main.asp)
