Over 700 000 jobs for Limpopo women says Public Works MEC

Maseo Nethanani

LIMPOPO -During a recent Women in Construction engagement session,  MEC of the Department of Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure, Jerry Ndou, confirmed that 700 000 job opportunities will be created in Limpopo as part of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).

“The EPWP’s targets are the vulnerable groups in the communities, and many of these jobs will focus on empowering women, especially in the construction sector.”

Ndou emphasised that the province recently committed to creating over 700 000 work opportunities in line with the National Development Plan (NDP), which calls for public employment programmes to create two million work opportunities annually by 2019. “The province has identified strategic infrastructure programmes taking shape in our municipalities, but the strategic integrated projects are at the heart of economic growth in our province, and we are injecting some energy into them. These include construction of the Nwamitwa Dam, the raising of the Tzaneen Dam wall, rural access roads in support of the agriculture and tourism clusters, adequate maintenance for all the existing infrastructure, nodal infrastructure for priority growth points, information and communication technology, solar photovoltaic electricity generation and options for cogeneration,” Ndou revealed. He said through the alignment of both the NDP and the Limpopo Development Programme, the department was tasked to pay special attention to decent employment through inclusive economic growth, an efficient, competitive and responsive economic infrastructure network, sustainable human settlements and improved quality of household life.

The CEO of Roads Agency Limpopo, Maselaganye Petrus Matji, said a programme was developed to identify the dedicated percentages capitals of the project and other designated groups.

“We have taken a very structured approach in terms of developing people emerging in business in all our five districts. We are in the process of establishing a database, which will focus on emerging contractors in each of the districts.

“Out of the 19 new projects that have been awarded, nine are partially owned by women. Out of these nine, two are 100% owned by women. We are creating an environment in which they can thrive,” said Matji.

In her speech, the chairperson of the South African Women in Construction (SAWIC) Limpopo, Mateme Mabel Motsifane, said sessions like these are handy for young women because they are the future and have to drive the government’s plan on the ground. “As the SAWIC we are going to do roadshows and focus on recruitment drives. We need more engineers, artisans, quantity surveyors and chartered accountants. Young women have started to engage in construction but they are not excelling yet, because they need to be motivated, encouraged, and developed,” emphasised Motsifane.

This is also why workshops on pothole repairs and maintenance are presented regularly. “Together with Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, we have signed a memorandum of agreement to allow SAWIC members to build 1 965 houses. This will represent those women who marched to the Union Building in 1956 against the Apartheid regime,” she added.