The Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Nomusa Dube-Ncube will on Thursday, 23 May 2023, officiate the launch of Phase V of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) at Harry Gwala Stadium, in Msunduzi Municipality, Pietermaritzburg.

The Premier will be joined by the MEC for Human Settlements and Public Works Sipho ‘KK’ Nkosi and the MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison Sipho Hlomuka, who will showcase over 12 000 recently appointed EPWP beneficiaries in their respective departments.

The launch will see a newly rebranded EPWP under the theme “Celebrating 20 Years of EPWP- Changing Lives, Building Better Communities.”

The launch is also in line with President Ramaphosa’s commitment of setting a target of 5 million job opportunities by 2029 through Phase V of the Expanded Public Works Programme. In the same vein, President Ramaphosa also applauded the province of KwaZulu-Natal for being the leading province in creating over 1 million EPWP job opportunities.

KwaZulu-Natal has set a benchmark by creating job opportunities, reducing unemployment, and employing over a million people through its service delivery oriented EPWP workstream, resulting in concrete proof in every ward in the province.

As the province celebrates, reflects, and commemorates over 30 years of democracy, the programme forms a major part of the government's milestones, as a key and leading driver for employment since its implementation 20 years ago. This flagship programme has seen the participation of at least one family member benefit in every household.

The EPWP is implemented within four sectors, namely, the Infrastructure Sector which is coordinated by the Department of Public Works; Non-State Sector is coordinated by IDT and the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, Social Sector is coordinated by the Department of Social Development; and the Environment and Culture Sector is coordinated by Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs.

The Premier will also use the occasion of the launch of the Phase V to unveil millions of job opportunities across all sectors in terms of the target for the next 5 years.

Details of the event are as follows:

Venue: Harry Gwala Stadium, Pietermaritzburg.

Date: 23 Thursday 2024
Time: 09:00

For Media Enquiries contact Mlungisi Khumalo 074 535 97894 or Premier’s Acting Media Liaison Joseph Cubai on 060 534 4187 or Kwanele Ncalane 076 292 6535

Issued by the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government