Publisher

Local government

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa says local government leaders have an opportunity and the responsibility to transform communities.

Keep your home safe

• Ask your neighbours to take out the post. Post left in the mailbox says that nobody is home.
• Make sure you have good lighting. Don’t leave the outside lights on during the day.
• Don’t let too many people know when you are going on holiday, only those you trust.
• Make sure your doors lock properly and that you have burglar bars.

The arrival of the festive season widely greeted with a sense of relief and the belief that each passing year is somehow tougher than the year before.

A new call centre will give patients an opportunity to report public and private health institutions that don't provide proper care.

Government’s programme for ensuring that learners have access to quality education infrastructure is making progress.

In December, people spend a lot of time outdoors enjoying the South African sun and often, they neglect to take the necessary care of their skin.

According to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa could well be heading for the hottest summer on record with temperatures over large parts of the country on average two degrees Celsius higher than normal.

Not only are December and January some of the hottest months of the year in South Africa, but they are skin cancer awareness months.

Kholiwe Skom (31) spent seven years unemployed after completing a business college diploma until she found work earlier this year as a school administrative assistant as part of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).

Recalling the years she tried to get work while volunteering her services at various organisations, she says: “I cry when I think about it.”

With less money to go around, some Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) programmes, such as Sophakama (meaning “we will rise”), might provide a key lesson on how to do more with less.

The non-profit organisation was founded in 2005 in KwaZakhele township, Port Elizabeth, by a group of women with funding from Oxfam and some local corporate support. It began by providing home-based care to households affected by HIV and AIDS, with five volunteers.

In 2012, it was able to expand participant numbers when the private funders were joined by the Department of Public Works.

GOVERNMENT’S EXTENDED Public Works Programme (EPWP) has had a positive impact on the lives of many young people across the country.

Between its inception in 2004 and the end of the second phase in 2014, the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) produced more than 5.6 million work opportunities.

The third phase of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), which kicked off in 2014, is expected to produce a further six million work opportunities by 2019, with a third of these already having been created by the end of June this year.