South Africa

The Expanded Public Works Programme

The Government of South Africa has recently launched, 2004, the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). The Programme will provide essential services and infrastructure to disadvantaged communities, develop skills of the unemployed and create the much needed employment by making appropriate technology choice. ASIST and the ILO Area Office in Pretoria have assisted in the design and preparation of an implementation strategy. This build builds upon previous support provided to the Department of Public Works in evaluating the Community Employment Programme (CEP) and the Community Based Public Works Programme (CBPWP) – both government-funded poverty alleviation programmes addressing infrastructure and employment problems in previously disadvantaged areas. In addition, the ILO has provided technical support to the National Public Works Programme in the areas related to capacity building, development of network mechanisms between government agencies and other stakeholders; and research.

Gundo Lashu Project

The Gundu Lasho project was initiated in 2001 and is implemented through the Limpopo Province Roads Agency with funding from DFID – South Africa and technical assistance from the ILO. The project aims at rehabilitating and maintaining gravel roads in the province using employment-friendly methods of work and executed through small emerging contractors. The Provincial Government conceived the programme as a flagship initiative to promote the development goals of the province. Initially the programme is being implemented at provincial level with a clear objective that the technology must be accepted and implemented at district and municipality level where the major market would be.

The programme aims at contributing to the adoption of common standards at the national, provincial and local levels of government and to the implementation of similar large-scale programmes in other provinces. Apart from the provision and maintenance of rural road infrastructure, the programme hopes to address historical social imbalances by creation of opportunities for the previously disadvantaged segments of the population. Great emphasis is therefore put on adhering to the South African social transformation agenda.

One of the challenges faced was to establish the programme within the South African labour, legislative and economic context. As statutory minimum labour wages are considerably higher in South Africa than in many African countries where such programmes have been implemented before, the programme has therefore, at least initially, operated under the Code of Good Practice for Special Public Works Programmes. This allows for negotiated wages below the statutory minimum. It also limits the duration of employment under these special conditions and provides that all workers employed under these condition are entitled to training, from life skills training to adult education (ABET) in compensation for the lower wages.

The projects achievements include:

• During 2003, 363,000 person-days of employment were created. Out of these 188,760 person-days of employment was provided to women.
• Twenty-four emerging contractor business entrepreneurs (52% female and 37% youth) have been equipped with the necessary skill and assisted in building their resource base. 
• Twenty-four supervisors were trained to manage execution of the work (12 were women and almost all youth) and nine consulting firms.
• Workers have been provided with training essential for participating in the local economic development.
• The skills and competence of local entrepreneurs that will continue to partner with the government have been raised and the working environment improved to ensure their growth in the competitive environment.
• A unit (within the responsible government agency) with responsibilities to plan, execute and manage works using employment-intensive approaches was established and staffed. Staff was trained on planning, implementation and management of works using employment-intensive approaches at the University of Witwatersrand, and also in institutions in Lesotho and Kenya.
• Roads have been rehabilitated to acceptable standard resulting in improved mobility for the communities in and out of their area.
• The project has helped reduce the misconception within the construction industry that labour-based methods are neither viable nor effective delivery mechanisms.

The Gundo Lasho project fits well into the overall development strategies of the Government and will continue under the umbrella of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) from which an allocation of about South African Rand 15 billion is expected the coming five years (2004 – 2009).

Targeted Procurement in South Africa

ASIST in collaboration with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and the South African Department of Public Works carried out an independent assessment of the targeted procurement system (TP). TP is an innovative procurement system aimed at addressing national government development objectives in the course of service delivery. It enables socio-economic components to be specified, monitored and audited within the contractual environment set by the public sector procurement set up. It therefore provides a means to addresses specific development objectives such as creating employment opportunities to marginalized communities. The assessment examined the supportive legislation, effectiveness and impact of target procurement and concluded that it is an effective tool for preferential procurement policies and results in opening up opportunities to emerging enterprises and to deliver socio-economic benefits to the target group.

Collaboration with universities

A programme of collaboration between the ILO and The Universities of Natal and the Witwatersrand started in 1996 to introduce labour-based road works and research into the curricular at under- and post-graduate levels. This involves the development of curricula and course materials.

Further reading

• See also: http://www.epwp.gov.za
• Expanding employment in public works in South Africa
  S. Phillips, In ASIST Bulletin No. 18. September 2004. ILO/ASIST
• Northern province labour-intensive rural roads maintenance programme (LIRRMP). A technical assistance programme for the Northern Province Provincial Government
  Department for International Development (DFID), Northern Province Provincial Government, 2003.
• Gundo Lashu: The labour intensive rural roads maintenance programme in Limpopo. Programme overview, achievements and outlook
  Northern Province Road Agency (NPRA), 2003. 
• Targeted procurement in the Republic of South Africa – An independent assessment - PDF 1,310 Kb
  T.E. Manchidi and I. Harmond, 2002
• Procurement – A tool to address key development and social issues - PDF 2,048 Kb
  D. Sahle, In ASIST Bulletin No. 14. September 2002. ILO/ASIST
• The Code of good practice in South Africa: A description - PDF 8 Kb
  ILO
• Basic conditions of employment act, 1997 – Ministerial Determination: Special Public Works Programmes - PDF 34 Kb
  Government Gazette South Africa, January 2002, Government of South Africa
• Basic conditions of employment act, 1997 – Code of good practice for employment and conditions of work for Special Public Works Programmes - PDF 51 Kb
  Government Gazette South Africa, January 2002, Government of South Africa
• Employment and poverty reduction through targeted procurement
  Terje Tessem, International Labour Organisation, 2000.
• An introduction to targeted procurement. Targeted procurement: The use of Public Sector Procurement as an instrument of social policy
  Strategic Procurement Systems, R.B. Watermeyer, et al. 2000.