The government has increased the wages of Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) participants by R4.41 in line with the inflation rate to R88 per day. The programme’s deputy director-general Stanley Henderson said the hike would contribute to the "welfare" of the participants’ households. EPWP was launched in 2004 to empower unemployed South Africans with skills and has continued to serve as an avenue for labour absorption and income transfers to poor households in the short to medium term. Henderson said in a statement that while the minimum wage increase, which comes into effect on Wednesday, covered all participants across the different sectors they are employed in, many public institutions taking part in the programme already paid much higher wages. "Many public bodies implementing the EPWP projects pay wages that are much higher than the prescribed minimum wage [which] is a significant move towards achieving better socio-economic status of the participants and communities," Hen...
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