Theme: employment_and_skills
Responsible: Department of Public Works and Infrastructure
EPWP creates temporary employment but minimal upward mobility. The skills linkage has always been weak in practice — DBE, DHET, and DPWI have different mandates and incentives. The QCTO and CIDB integration is technically feasible but requires coordination that has repeatedly failed. Without reform, EPWP remains a political job-creation number, not a development programme.
Who backs this reform, who needs convincing, and which interests or red lines shape political feasibility.
Backers
9
1 stakeholders
Negotiation weight
0
0 conditional actors
Opposition weight
0
0 opposing actors
Review coverage
0/1
All mapped stance notes are still draft
Provenance warning
Every mapped stakeholder stance for this idea is still draft. The coalition score is directional only until at least the high-influence actors are reviewed.
Coalition Read
Anchor: COSATU.
Political Tractability
No reviewed signals · 0% of mapped influence has been reviewed.
COSATU supports EPWP reform toward skills pathways as a mechanism for labour-intensive public employment.
Interest: Worker protections under the Labour Relations Act and Basic Conditions of Employment Act; collective bargaining rights; equitable wage growth; just tr…
Concern: Labour market flexibility reforms that erode LRA and BCEA protections; Eskom unbundling without adequate just transition planning for NUM members; pri…
Engagement path: Meaningful social dialogue through NEDLAC before structural reforms are finalised; just transition funding ring-fenced in MTEF; skills retraining and…
The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) has created over 14 million work opportunities since 2004, primarily in labour-intensive construction, environmental care, and social sector activities, but has been criticised for offering short-term, low-wage employment with minimal skills transfer and for susceptibility to political patronage at municipal level. Reform proposals include linking EPWP participation to formal artisan training under TVET college or SETA frameworks, establishing minimum training hours and certification requirements per project, and shifting the programme toward infrastructure maintenance where community-based workers can develop durable skills. The PC on Public Works' BRRRs flag inconsistent reporting and absence of post-EPWP employment outcome data as persistent governance gaps.
Referenced in OECD Economic Surveys: South Africa
OECD SA Survey (2017, 2022, 2025). Related reform area identified across OECD surveys.
SMME Regulatory Burden Reduction
Employment Tax Incentive (ETI) Extension and Expansion
Labour Activation Programme for Long-Term Unemployed
National Small Enterprise Amendment Act: Ombud Service Operationalisation
Urban Land Release for Affordable Housing and Infrastructure
How to cite
Wilse-Samson, L. (2026). Expanded Public Works Programme Reform: Towards Skills Pathways. SA Policy Space. NYU Wagner School of Public Policy. Retrieved 11 May 2026, from https://sa-policy-space.vercel.app/ideas/expanded-public-works-programme-reform-towards-skills-pathways?snapshot=2026-05-11
Data as of 2026-05-11 · latest PMG meeting 2026-05-08
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