When the Zibambele pilot project began in the Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu area in 2003, there were high hopes for it but has achieved far beyond what was expected.
City officials and politicians involved in this project recently got together to celebrate the shining star of the Expanded Public Works Programme.
The project began as a means to providing a sustainable employment to the most destitute women headed households who would maintain recently constructed roads.
Although similar to the programme run by the KwaZulu Natal Department of Transport, the Zibambele programme administered by eThekwini Municipality has significant differences.
Unique features include councillor involvement in the programme to monitor that it is being implemented effectively; being adapted to suit both urban and rural environment, the contractors report to overseers sourced from the community that the project is happening in and the overseers in turn report to the co-ordinators who are technikon graduates gaining experiential training; the contractors have an outcomes based contract with the city and in the event of the contractor falling ill or unable to fulfill his or her duty any other member of the household may undertake the work on their behalf.
Hailed as an innovative model, the project has been rolled out to 50 wards in eThekwini and has seen over 2000 beneficiaries without bank accounts assisted, the bulk (64%) of the 3 817 people exposed to the programme are between the age of 30 and 50 years old, 15% of the exposed contractors are below the age of 30 and the balance is made up of participants who are over 50 years.
As intended the majority of the contractors are from women headed households. This programme has also yielded 12 savings clubs and 20 students who received experiential training.
The Zibambele programme has received recognition in previous Impumelelo Awards but above all the eThekwini model has been recognized as best practice such that guidelines are currently being developed to assist authorities to implement this unique model.
Zibambele has proved numerous many positive results including sustainable jobs for poverty stricken members of the community, ensuring that participants have ID Books and bank accounts which allowed them to access other services like social grants. Zibambele has managed to restore a sense of identity and social re-integration.
Source: ethekwini.gov.za
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