7 June 2010

While KwaZulu-Natal shed some 200,000 jobs last year due to the economic recession, the provincial government directly created only 21,258 “job opportunities”, as part of its much lauded Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), a response to a parliamentary question has revealed.

The number of “job opportunities” created by the EPWP since 2005, when the initiative was launched in KwaZulu-Natal is as follows: 12,280 in 2005/2006, 15,952 in 2006/2007, 17,499 in 2007/2008, 20,755 in 2008/2009, and 21,258 in 2009/2010. 

“Despite the steady increase, the provincial government has consistently missed each annual target for job creation since 2005,” said IFP KwaZulu-Natal finance spokesperson Roman Liptak MPL who posed the parliamentary question to the MEC of Human Settlements Maggie Govender.

The ministerial response also revealed what the IFP had long suspected – that any single worker that is employed in more than one "job opportunity" is counted more than once. “The duplication of beneficiaries means that in reality fewer people than the numbers provided by the Department of Human Settlements have benefitted from the EPWP,” said Liptak.

The response shows that the average length of EPWP “job opportunities” in working days per individual worker has grown from mere 30 days in 2005/2006 to 132 days in 2009/2010. “The bottom line is that despite the annual increase, even last year’s 132 working days per individual worker does not amount to a fully-fledged job,” said Liptak.

According to the response, the average daily wage of a worker in the department’s EPWP “job opportunities” has grown from R50 in 2005/2006 to R70 in 2009/2010, which the IFP notes is grossly out of step with the annual rate of inflation.

“It remains scandalous that given the duplication of beneficiaries, the average length of “job opportunities” and the below inflation wage increases, the EPWP passes for a credible job creation policy,” said Liptak.

As an alternative to the EPWP, the IFP has advocated a wage subsidy paid to small businesses for every new job created, pioneered by the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) and in a watered down version incorporated into the current national budget.

“The ANC has long objected to the wage subsidy on the grounds that it creates second class employees without the rights and benefits enshrined in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. The EPWP has been doing just that with the ruling party’s blessing,” said Liptak. 

Contact: Roman Liptak, 078 302 0929