3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Assessing the role of the expanded public works programme national youth service in promoting youth employment(2018) Nkuna, LindiweYouth unemployment and skill shortages poses major challenges to the socio-economic status of South Africa. Making it worse is the fact that the South African youth unemployment landscape is complex and multi-faceted. As such, the country is grappling with a challenge of how to implement employment creation and skills development initiatives that will respond to this multifaceted challenge. This is not withstanding the fact that government is implementing interventions like the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) National Youth Services (NYS) programme aimed strengthening youth participation in service delivery and the built environment, whilst helping the youth to gain the work-related skills necessary to access opportunities for a sustainable livelihood (Department of Public Works, 2017). Despite government interventions to address the challenge of unemployment, the majority of young people are concerned that government is not doing enough to create jobs for them. Moreover, anecdotal evidence also suggest these programmes are less attractive to the younger age cohort because they are not well tailored for young people and fail to address their aspirations. While the EPWP has been implemented for years now and there is monitoring of the number of work opportunities created, there is no evidence to confirm the extent to which this programme contribute to youth employment. This paper then proposes to assess the role of the EPWP NYS in promoting youth employment. This paper proceeds by reviewing the literature on the public works programmes in order to get an understanding of the nature of the problem. Secondly, this research establishes frameworks that can interpret the empirical findings on the role of the EPWP NYS in promoting youth employment. Thirdly, based on the literature reviewed a conceptual framework for this study is developed. Fourthly, from data collected, the research analysed the role of the EPWP NYS in promoting youth employment. Lastly, this research has applied the established theoretical frameworks such as the theory of change and capabilities approach framework to interpret the empirical results with conclusions and recommendations for future research made.Item The role of small, micro and medium enterprises in job creation in South Africa(2017) Jakuja, NomahlubiThe role of SMMEs in job creation in developed countries has been studied extensively. These studies do not include micro firms in their research. There is a scarcity of literature when it comes to the role SMMEs play in job creation in developing countries. This study adds to the literature gap by incorporating micro firms in its research. The study explored the ability of SMMEs in addressing unemployment in South Africa by looking at their ability to create jobs. The study is a qualitative analysis of existing literature combined with interviews of 16 SMME owners. The role SMMEs play in job creation is not only measured by the number of people employed (labour intensiveness) but also by the potential of SMMEs to grow and thus create jobs in the future. The interview respondents were largely comprised of microenterprises. The paper also found business owners to have low and negative sentiments towards the government. Cash flow and funding remained the major challenges facing the sector in 2016/17. The findings from the interviews are aligned with the empirical findings of the study.Item The implementation of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in Gauteng(2016) Mashabela, Boy JohannesThe high rate of unemployment and poverty in South Africa remains a daunting challenge, which continues to impact on the lives of millions of people who have limited education and lack skills, particularly those in the marginalised and rural communities who have no access to income generation. Gauteng Province due to in-migration is no exception to these challenges. In an effort to address these challenges the government has adopted the EPWP programme, which is a nationwide government-led initiative, with the aim of reducing unemployment by ensuring that the unskilled gain skills so that they are able to gain access to labour market and consequently earn an income (EPWP Five-year report, 2004/5-2008/9). The five-year report states that the programme set the target of achieving approximately one (1) million temporary work opportunities, for people, of whom 40% will be women, 30% youth and 2% will constitute of people with disabilities. This programme hoped to mitigate some of the social exclusion that the society is faced with and contribute to poverty alleviation, through the creation of short-and medium-term jobs for the unskilled and unemployed. Phase 1 EPWP programme has not yielded the significant results it was intended to, particularly the reduction of unemployment, which has remained high. It should be noted that this programme created a great many expectations, in so far as it relates to maximising the spread and skilling of all intended beneficiaries, needed to gain access into the mainstream economy. The five-year report (2004/5-2008/9) identifies four sectors which are critical or have potential for creating employment opportunities within the context of the EPWP. These are described as follows: ii The infrastructure sector, which focuses on increasing labour intensity for government-funded infrastructure projects; Environment, which relates to public environmental improvement programmes The social sector, which relates to public social programmes such as community-based care programmes; and The non-state sector, which provides and creates work opportunities through collaboration with non-state organisations, as well as strengthening community participation through small enterprise learnership and incubation programmesItem The comprehensive rural development programme and job creation in Impumelelo(2016) Chidzewere, PrevilageWith the advent of President Zuma’s administration, the issue of rural development became one of the key focal areas in South Africa (2009-2014). This is also premised in the South African Constitution (Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996) which provides for planning, coordination and implementation of development (rural development included) as one of the key foundations of a developmental state that South Africa envisages. Previous research found that the poorest people in South Africa live in the rural areas where they are still poor, disempowered, characterised with high dependency and outmigration of the economically active. This research used a mixed method approach where quantitative and qualitative questionnaires were used to collect primary data from 50 heads of household in Impumelelo. It was found that the Impumelelo heads of household generally hold positive perceptions on whether service delivery has improved in Impumelelo since the introduction of Comprehensive Rural Development Programme. However, there has been mixed reactions on whether locals have had access to jobs locally and on the issue of skills development for the youth. The majority of Impumelelo heads of household hold negative perceptions on whether Comprehensive Rural Development Programme has been beneficial to women empowerment, youth empowerment and long term employment in Impumelelo.Item Implementation and outcomes of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in Mabopane(2017) Mogagabe, Caroline22 years into the democracy, South Africa is still struggling with unemployment. Issues such as poor education outcomes, high disease burden, uneven public service performance, corruption and others have been listed amongst issues the country is facing however; poverty and inequality have been identified as the two main challenges facing the country (The National planning commission, 2012). This research attempted to understand unemployment and how the EPWP addresses the unemployment issues at a local level. The EPWP intends to provide temporary employment and provide training to its beneficiaries through skills programmes, learnership and artisan development. The skills and training provided intend to enhance the beneficiaries’ chances of being employable on other projects after exiting the EPWP (EPWP, 2016) Between 1994 and 2014 white labour force has increased with 9 percent, Indian/Asian labour force increased with 45 percent, 5 percent increase of coloured work force and a 95 percent hike of black African labour force (Stats SA, 2014). According to the National planning commission (2012) South Africa has made a remarkable transition from apartheid into democracy. The high growth experienced by the black African ethnic group has been attributed to the number of interventions implemented by the government to eradicate inequality such as Affirmative Action Act (AA). From the stats provided, one is able to deduce that the government has been able to make progress in terms of decreasing inequality and therefore needs to develop employment creation strategies to address unemployment. The literature review conducted in this study indicates a link between unemployment, economic growth, apartheid and skills development. Apartheid has not been pursued as an attribute as strategies to overcome it have become pre-eminent. This research utilised the qualitative strategy and cross-sectional research design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with interview schedule as a guiding tool for basic questions, the researcher asked further questions when required to do so.