R500 million for Eyesizwe Contractor Development
R500 MILLION worth of work has been aside for small businesses registered on Public Works’ Eyesizwe Contractor Development Programme.
This was recently announced by KwaZulu-Natal Human Settlements and Public Works MEC Ravi Pillay at a ceremony for 46 construction graduates in Nquthu, northern KZN.
“Even if you are a newly formed SMME or cooperative and you register on that programme, you get further training, but you also get guaranteed opportunities.
“In other words, through the schools, clinics and houses that we build we are pushing to advance radical socio-economic transformation,” said Pillay. According to a statement from the department, in the first year of its operation Eyesizwe budgeted R80m for ringfenced contracts but spent R120m.
In the current financial year, R350m was allocated with R500m on the cards for 2017/18.
The department said that 600 companies had been registered in the first phase and is currently processing a further 1-800 applications. The programme aims to target black women and youth who are emerging contractors.
Pillay encouraged the construction graduates receiving their accredited certificates in basic housing construction to also set themselves up as entrepreneurs.
The graduates are part of a first batch of 445 from four districts who have completed a rigorous six month Expanded Public Programme (EPWP) linked training course in Building and Civil Construction. “The recipients have met the minimum requirements for the National Certificate in Building and Civil Construction,” said Pillay. He added that the training programme exposed the youth to various modules of housing construction and that certification enables them to access work opportunities that match their newly acquired skills – a critical element of government’s EPWP for advancing radical socio-economic transformation.
The modules include specialist instruction in bricklaying and plastering as well as roofing and carpentry.
The graduates were drawn from the municipalities of Big Five, Hlabisa and uMhlabuyalingana in uMkhanyakude District.
The department’s quality assurer, the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) has also undertaken to provide bursaries to some of the graduates for them to continue their studies in the built environment disciplines.