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POLOKWANE – The city’s municipality scooped two awards at the Kamoso National Awards hosted by public works minister, Thulas Nxesi, in October.
Municipalities accross the country vied for awards in 34 categories. The aim of the awards was to mobilise decision makers of the Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) to increase their efforts in making a socio-economic impact among communities and individual EPWP beneficiaries. Among other criteria, adjudication was based on the level of labour intensity and budget versus expenditure.
Public works MEC, Dickson Masemola, said the municipality competed against 283 other municipalities.
“Polokwane came out tops earning themselves two top positions. One was won in the best local municipality category for excellence in the implementation of the EPWP,” Masemola said. The municipality also won an award for the construction of a sidewalk in Mokgokong village.
Masemola was speaking during the provincial ceremony of the Kamoso National Awards, which was held in Polokwane last week. At the provincial ceremony, the municipality also won two awards: One for the best construction project infrastructure for the construction of the Lawton Bridge, and another for the Ema o iphidishe EPWP community-based routine maintenance programme.
Polokwane mayor, Freddy Greaver, said the EPWP was government’s response to the challenge of unemployment. “The EPWP makes it possible not only to provide a livelihood to those who are in dire straits, but also affords an opportunity for government to improve service delivery by bringing services to communities closer in a manner that seeks to empower communities in a broader manner,” he said.
He said scooping top national awards was a great achievement for the municipality and proved the municipality’s commitment to improving the quality of infrastructure, which would affect people positively.
Greaver said the municipality would not, however, judge itself by the number of awards it received, but by the standard and quality of services that it provided, and by the lives it improved.
