Abstract
Scholarship on the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in South Africa tends to focus
on quantitative evaluation to measure the progress made in the implementation of EPWP
projects. The number of employment opportunities created by EPWP, demographic profiling,
skills acquired by beneficiaries and training opportunities related to the Programme form the
basis of typical statistical evaluations of it, but exclude comment by the workers who
participate in its projects. Based on primary sources, including in-depth interviews, newspaper
reports and internet sources, this article seeks to provide a qualitative review of the EPWP
from the perspective of the beneficiaries of municipal EPWP projects. Various South African
government sectors hire EPWP workers to provide local services such as cleaning and
maintaining infrastructure, but the employment of these workers can still be regarded as
precarious, in the sense that they have no job security, earn low wages and have no benefits
such as medical aid or pension fund. The interviewees indicated that, although they appreciate
the temporary employment opportunities provided by the EPWP, they also experience health
and safety risks and lack the advantages of organised labour groupings. Their main
disadvantage, however, is that they cannot access permanent employment, which offers better
wages and concomitant benefits.