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Public Works Deputy Minister Honourable Jeremy Cronin has opened the third Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) Summit at St Georges Hotel in Centurion Gauteng. Speaking during the summit Deputy Minister said the Expanded Public Works Programme was developed to give people work experience.

The summit was also attended by Gauteng MEC for Infrastructure Development Miss Qedani Mahlangu, Tshwane Municipality Mayoral Committee Member Cllr Aaron Maluleka and various mayors from Municipalities across the country.

The Deputy Minister said the Expanded Public Works Programme was a long whole intervention and that the programme must create an idea of how government wants to deal with the scourge of unemployment. He said the latest figures as from September 2012, show that the programme has created 2, 6 million work opportunities against the target of 4, 9 million work opportunities by year 2014.

“We are very confident as government that we will meet the target of 4, 9 million work opportunities by 2014, said the Deputy Minister. Deputy Minister Cronin also warned all EPWP implementers not to be complaisant of what they need to do. He also cautioned against turning the summit into a talk show, saying concrete resolutions must be implemented.

The Deputy Minister said there must be connections between the social grants and the work of EPWP. He said as much as there are successes; there are also challenges like the high level of unemployment that the summit needs to deal with. Deputy Minister Cronin challenged delegates to think out of the box, saying the 40-day duration of the EPWP work opportunity must be reviewed as it is too small.

“As a country, we do not put much attention on the maintenance of our buildings, we have to look much profoundly on maintenance” said Hon. Cronin. He said the maintenance programme of the department must have an EPWP element, as this field can create more labour intensive work opportunities.

The Deputy Minister said the Higher Education department has agreed to transfer R200 million to be used to improve skills development through EPWP. He said the Programme will work with Further and Training institutions to train more artisans.

Honourable Cronin concluded by urging delegates to use this summit to find ways of working closer with their societies to improve their lives.