The City of Johannesburg has started awarding some R1-billion in municipal work contracts to community-based enterprises as part of its Jozi@Work programme,
driving the city’s objective of achieving socioeconomic transformation by transforming job seekers into job creators.
The programme, launched in September last year, would see the city granting municipal service tenders to cooperatives and community-based organisations for work required in the community in which they were based.
Over R1-billion of the city’s 2014/15 budget for municipal contracts, repairs, maintenance and new building construction would be deployed through the programme, while a further R3-billion had been committed for the 2015/16 fiscal period.
The city expected the programme to “enable” 1,755 businesses and support 12,329 jobs in 2014/15.
Each successful cooperative or “micro-company” would be supported by a regional Capability Support Agent (CSA) that would handle invoicing and payments, ensure that contracted work was completed to acceptable standards, and ensure that enterprises were able to rent the equipment and buy the raw materials required to complete the contract.
The agents would also, over a two-year period, provide successful companies with training, advice and support and assist them in accessing low-cost loans, enabling them to grow beyond the programme and enter the open market.
