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7 April 2008

The Minister of Public Works, Ms Thoko Didiza invites members of the media to a walkabout on the construction sites of the Kagiso Magistrate court and the South African Police Service (SAPS) Building in Krugersdorp and later to the refurbishment of One Military Hospital in Pretoria as part of her Imbizo Focus Week trail starting tomorrow, 8 April until Saturday, 12 April.

During the walkabout in Gauteng, the Minister will interact with participants and beneficiaries including contractors, project managers and learners who are participating in these projects as part of the Public Works National Youth Service (NYS) under the auspices of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).

In April 2007, the Minister accompanying the Deputy President Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka launched the Public Works National Youth Service (DPW NYS) under the EPWP to recruit and train at least 5 000 learners in 2007/08 in the built environment trades such as bricklaying, carpentry, glazing, electrical wiring, paving, painting, plumbing and others. The NYS is a government wide initiative to mobilise South African Youth behind the national goals of economic growth, skills development, social cohesion and patriotism.

To-date 9 383 youth have been enlisted under the DPW NYS programme, with the national Department of Public Works alone contributing 4 172 and the rest made up of recruits from the various provincial Departments of Public Works. It is envisaged that the NYS and its successful implementation will bequeath both the industry and the public sector with necessary technical skills currently in acute shortage.

Already 290 Youth from the first batch of NYS recruits in 2007/08 have graduated from the NYS and the Minister will attend their graduation on Thursday, 10 April at Edenburg in the Kopanong Municipality under Xhariep District Municipality, in Free State marking the second leg of the Minister's Imbizo Week.

The Minister will culminate her Imbizo Week tour by visiting the Construction site of the South African Embassy in Maseru, Lesotho on Friday, 11 April and Saturday, 12 April. The project comprises the construction of a Chancery, Recreation Facility and 10 houses for transferred personnel. The embassy is one of the various capital works projects undertaken by the national Department of Public Works on behalf of the Department of Foreign Affairs, including embassies in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Swaziland, as well as the construction of the Pan African Parliament building expected to come on stream towards the end of the 2009.

Enquiries:
Trodger Thebe
Tel: 012 337 3166
Cell: 082 908 1850

Issued by: Department of Public Works
7 April 2008