16 Aug 2020

The government has approved a revamp of the Ipelegeng Programme, which is due to return in September , and another decision has been taken not to terminate the temporary engagement of the COVID-19 Scorpions at B3 Scale.

Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Kgotla Autlwetse informed the National Assembly on August 14, putting to rest the uncertainty that had been prevailing amongst people who had been engaged to work in the programme.

Mr Autlwetse said government had on Wednesday approved the review and re-engineering of the Ipelegeng programme in order to compliment other government programmes aimed at creating employment  at village-level.

Labour intensive public works across government would in future be coordinated through Ipelegeng for efficient and effective execution, Mr Autlwetse said.

“These would include but not be limited to maintenance works such as the erection and repairing of school fences, refurbishing classrooms, maintenance of clinics, constructions of cluster fences, de-bushing of international boundaries, construction and maintenance of kgotla offices and many more,” Mr Autlwetse said.

He also said government intended to engage artisans as part of improving the quality of works and to provide guidelines aimed at improving productivity of the Ipelegeng programme.

Furthermore, Mr Autlwetse said in its renewed format, Ipelegeng would aim at honing skills amongst participants to enable them to graduate to self-employment or permanent employment in related industries.

Mr Autlwetse also told Parliament that more detailed guidelines would be issued to the councils for the programme to commence at the beginning of September, with COVID-19 prevention protocols due to be observed.

The supervisory aspect of the programme would also be improved at the ministry to enhance accountability and coordination in order to complement other programmes such as the constituency community projects.

In addition to keeping the recently engaged COVID-19 Scorpions at B3 level, the government also decided that Ipelegeng funds would not be utilised to pay the Scorpions, Mr Autlwetse revealed.

“With the assistance of my colleague, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, funds will be sourced from elsewhere to pay for the COVID-19 Scorpions. The matter has now been put to rest,” Mr Autlwetse said. BOPA