The Eastern Cape Department of Public Works and the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) have been jointly awarded the best public body supporting contractor development in the 2009 Kamoso annual awards in a function which was held in Johannesburg on 6 November 2009.
The School Building programme is one of the Eastern Cape’s contributions towards the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). The programme is initiated by the Department of Public Works through the EPWP and funded by the Eastern Cape Department of Education. The project is managed by CDC and has been able to assist in changing the socio-economic status of the province.
Over and above 50 emerging contractors that have been developed by the programme, so far 2 961 people have been employed. Of this number, 626 were women, 38 were disabled and 1 232 were youth. A total of 54 Further Education and Training (FET) college interns were placed in jobs and 1 033 people received training on HIV and AIDS and occupational health and safety.
The Kamoso awards were launched in 2007 by the Department of Public Works with the intention of rewarding national departments, provinces, municipalities and public bodies that excelled in initiating and implementing labour intensive projects that are aimed at creating jobs. In addition the CDC received an award for its contribution as a state owned enterprise (SOE) in implementing the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).
The awards were in recognition of the contribution by the Eastern Cape government, including its state owned entities. This is the third year in a row that the EPWP School Building Learnership programme has received top honours. In 2008 the EPWP School Building Learnership programme won the Kamoso award in the economic sector for Best Contractor Development programme and also won the Best Government Enterprise Development programme award at the EPWP Big News awards for 2007.
The MEC for Roads and Public Works, Ms Pemmy Majodina said the award belonged to all the people in the department who have worked so hard to improve the lives of people in the Eastern Cape.
“We are as a department are committed to finding sustainable ways to provide the people of the Eastern Cape with access to not only jobs but improved service delivery. This award really belongs to those people who work so hard, often without any recognition, to ensure that as a government we are making a meaningful contribution to the lives of the people in the Eastern Cape,” said MEC Majodina.
Mr Chuma Mbande, CDC Services Operations Manager said: “Coega’s winning of the EPWP is a reflection of the strength of the team that we have in place to ensure the successful delivery of infrastructure projects in the Eastern Cape. We also ensure together with the government that we are able to meet the challenges that confront us”.
The Department of Education’s Chief Director for Facilities Management, Mr Zamayedwa Tom has also welcomed this achievement, expressing the hope that it would also send a clear message to some of our communities, that the work of eradicating the mammoth school infrastructure backlog is in good hands.
“This clearly shows that even as we make haste in eradicating mud structures, best practice is still the norm as we know that our long suffering school communities expect nothing less”, he said.
For further information contact:
Senzeni Ndebele
Cell: 083 661 1975
Tel: 041 403 0464
Fax: 041 403 0401
E-mail: senzeni.ndebele@coega.co.za
Jason Lloyd
Cell: 082 728 5476
Tel: 040 609 4472
Fax: 040 609 4469
E-mail: Jason.Lloyd@dpw.ecape.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Roads and Public Works, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
13 November 2009
Source: Department of Roads and Public Works, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
(http://dpw.ecprov.gov.za/)
