The battle to vigorously fight against the pandemic of unemployment, poverty and inequality in Umdoni steadily continues, as the municipality, through the Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP), has given an employment status to 200 unemployed individuals from 10 rural wards under its jurisdiction.
From July 1, the municipality has temporarily employed 56 males and 144 females for a six-month working contract ending on December 31.
Youth development and empowerment also plays a pivotal role in the development of our communities while simultaneously insuring the alleviation of the scourge of social ills due to unemployment.
Under this programme, the youth was given more opportunities, taking up 121 employment spaces out of the 200.
These EPWP workers have been employed to successfully execute the municipality’s Rural Clean-up Project which involves litter picking and refuse collection in the rural areas.
Our rural communities have fallen victims of neglect when it comes to refuse removal services. And in addressing this predicament, the municipality devised and implemented this plan to ensure that these communities are also kept clean as those in the urban areas.
The EPWP programme under Umdoni municipality has yielded positive results in giving temporal relief to hundreds of community members that fall under the unemployed bracket.
Since its inception, this programme including internally funded projects employed 366 people in the 2019/20 financial year and 244 people in the 2020/20 fiscal year.
The municipality continues to be in engagements with various stakeholders for the creation of more job opportunities to bring the much-needed temporary relief to the impoverished communities of Umdoni.
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