A meeting is scheduled for this week with National Treasury to submit an application to continue the PEP project.

The City of Cape Town hopes to unlock additional funding from national government to continue a number of programmes that have come about through the Public Employment Programme (PEP).

In 2020, the Presidency announced an Employment Stimulus Plan in response to the devastating economic and jobs impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic recession.

As part of the plan, municipalities were offered the opportunity to upscale public employment programmes as part of their economic response and recovery plans.

The City of Cape Town was awarded R160 million by National Treasury after applying for funding.

The PEP funded programmes have helped created more than 3 000 temporary work opportunities for residents.

The projects have been administered via the national Expanded Public Works Programme portal, in collaboration with a number of City partners and NGOs.

‘The City of Cape Town already administers a very effective EPWP programme that creates thousands of work opportunities annually for persons who are registered on the database. This funding helped us create additional opportunities across a host of departments within the City, but also for external service providers who have partnered with us to ensure maximum benefit for beneficiaries,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management, Alderman Grant Twigg.

Among the projects that were included in the PEP programme were:

• Alien vegetation clearing in Atlantis

• An illegal dumping clean-up campaign

• Fire prevention marshal project

• An addiction and reintegration support programme for homeless persons

‘As a caring local government, we are aware that many people continue to struggle with the devastation of a two-year pandemic, compounded by ongoing economic woes. The City is doing all it can to assist these vulnerable residents, and the funding that was made available by national government during the pandemic to stimulate job creation and economic opportunities has been used to good effect thus far. We hope to continue the very valuable projects that have come about because of the PEP funding, and that is why we are engaging with National Treasury on the way forward and hopefully unlocking additional funding,’ added Alderman Twigg.

Source: City Of Cape Town