Jobs for women initiative
EPWP s Covid-19 plan employs 184 in region
MEC of public works and infrastructure Babalo Madikizela was at the Thobi Kula Indoor Sports Centre on Tuesday to launch the new Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP), Covid-19 Brigades programme.
The programme will recruit 184 young people in the Chris Hani district and 1,000 across the Eastern Cape. They will work in government departments, assisting with Covid-19 screenings and enforcing regulations.
Madikizela said the six-month programme was one of many ways the government was tackling the province s high unemployment.
’ We heard the outcry from unemployed young “people across the province. EPWP job opportunities are not a permanent solution, but are a way to help households that have absolutely nothing,” he said.
The MEC said the programme targeted employing women and in the next round of recruitment, people with disabilities would be considered.
Most of the households in the country are
“headed by women and, by their very nature, women are caring people. We believe that by employing women we are bringing change to more households,” he said.
Acting chief director of the EPWP in the Eastern Cape, Zukhanye Satyi, said the department had created the new programme in anticipation of the second wave of Covid-19 infections.
Government wants to be better prepared for
“the second wave than it was when the pandemic first hit. We decided to launch this programme in Chris Hani because it has been doing well with other programmes. We also wanted to encourage young people, while pushing back poverty and unemployment,” said Satyi.
Sisipho Mgedezi, 24, who was selected, said this was an opportunity to help her family. I am
“happy to have been selected. This will help me take responsibility of my life and help my family. It will also increase my self-esteem because I will be working like other people,” she said.