- Title
- Expand public works program on infrastructure : lessons from international public works programs 1920'S - 1950'S and 2004-2016
- Creator
- Zuma, Siziwe Monica
- Subject
- Public works--South Africa Labor--South Africa Job creation--South Africa
- Date Issued
- 2016
- Date
- 2016
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Doctoral
- Type
- Public Administration
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10353/16102
- Identifier
- vital:40664
- Description
- The Expanded Public Works Program on Infrastructure is a national program by the South African Government. It is intending to build and maintain public assets using labour intensive mechanisms. It seeks to offer short term employment and training to the labour participants so that when they exit they may be able to find employment. The program also has an economic sector program of the infrastructure sector called Vuk‘uphile for development of emerging contractors also it is a national program. The Expanded Public Works Program is the government main instrument to job creation in South Africa. Government also seeks to pursue policies that are pro-growth, with the hope that the economic growth will absorbed the unemployed into employment. It is also looking into the small business sector to be the main driver for job creation. Despite this the government‘s commitment, the unemployment rate and poverty rate are increasing and the economy is declining. The study sought to examine if the skills obtained by the participants in the Expanded Public Works Program enable the participants to obtain employment upon exiting the program. It also sought to find any challenges the participants encounter before and after living the program. It sought to look at other international public works programs and theories on public works to learn any lessons. I also sought to study if the program cannot be expanded into for it to create more sustainable employment for the enterprises and the labour participants in order to lengthen the period of work experience skills training, reduce the incidents of poverty and stimulate economic growth. This study followed a literature review methodology, using second source data from various literatures, empirical and non-empirical second source literature. The findings indicate that the skills and the duration of the training are not sufficient for the labour participants to be absorbed by the labour force. The short duration of working in the program is too short to make a meaningful income and work experience that can be sustainable. Upon exiting the program they cannot find employment a large majority of them. The program offered in the Zibambele in KwaZulu Natal offers work on a part time basis for the maintenance of roads over a longer period that acts as a safety net. The program is only in KwaZulu Natal and only on road maintenance; it is not big enough to make a meaningful difference to the amount of unemployment in the country. The Vuk‘uphile program however is offering good skills to the emerging contractor that enables their companies to grow. The international public works programs have been instrumental in creating employment to millions of participants and reduced incidents of poverty. The expanded public works program on infrastructure can be expanded to include asset management, maintenance and can expand to rural infrastructure and development and agricultural infrastructure. The study recommends that the government considers expanding the expanded public works program on infrastructure so that it can provide longer and more sustainable employment to labor participants and entrepreneurs. Also that it considers using the model used to develop emerging contractors in the Vuk‘uphile program to develop small medium businesses in the infrastructure and other areas.
- Format
- 258 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- University of Fort Hare
- Publisher
- Faculty of Commerce and Management
- Language
- English
- Rights
- University of Fort Hare
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UFH Department of Public Administration
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | ZUMA MONICA THESIS.pdf | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |