As the country celebrates the World Aids Day, Public Works eThekwini Regional Director, Ms Dudu Fihlela and her management team organised an awareness programme for officials on issues of HIV and AIDS; Disability in the workplace; and general abuse during the period of 16 Days of Activism on no Violence Against Women and Children (25 November – 10 December 2016).

Various speakers who addressed the gathering was Doctor Gugu Mkhulisi from Addington Hospital; Ms Bulelwa Mbolekwa – a visually impaired LLB Graduate and Deputy Manager at the Department of Health responsible for Youth and Gender issues; and Warrant Officer P.Z. Ngwane from Mayville SAPS.

Dr Gugu Mkhulisi

W/O Ngwane

Dr. Mkhulisi alerted the gathering on the variety of issues pertaining to HIV and AIDS, stressing the importance of awareness, prevention and life style for those infected and affected by HIV and Aids. She further stressed the issue of living a balance life, that is healthy mind and healthy body being inseparable.

Ms Mbolekwa’s talk focussed on Disability Rights in the Working environment and that Disability is a Human Rights issue as outlined in the country’s constitution. She said employers have the responsibility to accommodate people with disabilities and ensure that people with disabilities have a right to fair labour treatment. She warned that the fact that many organisations are still failing to reach the 2% target in the employment of people with disabilities is due to attitude and ignorance in understanding issues of disabilities. Ms Mbolekwa said while there are volumes of books and information on the Internet about disability issues but ignorance is still prime and challenged government employees to educate themselves about disability issues.

Warrant Officer PZ Ngwane’s talk focused mainly of crime in relation to women and children – including human trafficking and provided the most valuable advice on a variety of crime related issues. The Officer told the gathering that SAPS has made Domestic Violence a priority crime and that victims of domestic violence are treated with care and dignity they deserve in the established Victims Empowerment Centre at Mayville SAPS.

During the proceedings, Public Works officials in the Region read the Pledge and committed their support to be part of the solution against violence. The function ended with the lighting of the candle and with officials testing for some various diseases.

During the month of June 2016, Public Works as "An Implementing Agent of Choice" for infrastructure development positively responded in fulfilling the needs of provincial departments as original clients to infrastructure development. In supporting this mandate, the department successfully identified ten unutilised park homes for refurbishment and redistribution accordingly to various schools and Non-Government Organisations within the province. The implementation process of this project is based on client needs and may in most cases be targeted for a short term base period.

Park homes are designed and have been designed so to provide relief to schools and at certain circumstances would be mainly used as offices. In addition, they could also be used as staff rooms, especially where there was a shortfall of adequate administration offices. Other park homes have been used as kitchen facilities for schools that have effectively managed to roll out the school nutrition programme in a much healthier and conducive environment.

Refurbished park home at Mdlelanga Combined Primary School within North Coast of the province

The identification of the beneficiaries was conducted through Operation Sukuma Sakhe (OSS) where after the department visited various schools that encountered infrastructure challenges in various areas across the province. This ultimately led to community engagements with stakeholders and the National Department of Public Works. The advantage of using park homes by the provincial government has been an ideal direction in an attempt to ensure optimal utilisation of assets in line with Government Immovable Assets Management Act (GIAMA) that seeks to encourage the use non immovable assets as a temporary solution. It must be indicated that park homes have been used in the past by schools and other beneficiaries in different ways that would suit the needs of recipients respectively.

The project beneficiaries, included amongst others, a Non-Profit Organisation in the KwaNyuswa area where the park home is being utilised as a crèche; Yenzanathi Community Development Project (Non-profit organisation); Imbizane Primary school in the Ugu District municipality; Carl Malcomes High School in the Harry Gwala District Municipality; Vulekani Special School in uMzimkhulu; Mdlelanga Combined Primary School and Mshushu High School and Shayamoya Primary School as situated in and around the North Coast region.

Carl Malcomes High School in Harry Gwala District Municipality

Donated to Yenzanathi Community Development Project (NGO)

This intervention has availed a conducive space for administrative block which will improve job enlargement on the part of the educators. It has also fostered improved learning spaces for schools that had previously conducted its classes on verandas due to a lack of infrastructure. The positive impact and value added by the re-utilisation of park homes is the enhancement of a learning culture for the pupils and teaching for the educators while equally improving and restoring dignity to learners and educators. A technical issue is that these measures will be monitored so as to manage the life span of such park homes within designated areas taking into account health and environmental related guidelines.

The re-use of park home indeed remains a positive move towards good governance by the government of the day.

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The Public Works Sector Infrastructure Forum (PWSIF) established to convene regular meetings with all Provincial Public Works Departments to discuss progress on infrastructure delivery projects held its meeting in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal on the 30th November 2016.

The forum meeting which is held at various provinces on rotational basis was attended by National Department of Public Works, and provinces of Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo.

The objectives of the Public Works Sector Infrastructure Forum is to foster cooperation and improve delivery of services / projects and impact on job creation; create strategies and mechanisms to standardise and support the implementation of Infrastructure Delivery Management System (IDMS) for the sector; create a platform for addressing infrastructure performance for the sector and also to facilitate cross disciplinary approach to service / project related challenges; to enable the Executives (both the National and provinces) to have authentic and reliable information for decision making and to provide the Minister with readily available resources to respond to issues of delivery raised by other Ministers, Clients and the Cabinet.

The Forum make recommendations on all matters relating to the implementation of Public Works infrastructure projects and IDMS and reporting to relevant executives and authority. Among other roles, the forum ccoordinate infrastructure delivery implementation and impact on job creation and address all issues that have major implications for the project and liaise with all relevant stakeholders; provide leadership and guidance to the provinces and continuously monitor performance of Infrastructure Programme and where necessary propose interventions to ensure an improved working relationship between National Office and Provincial Offices with Client Departments.

On regular basis, the Public Works Sector Infrastructure Forum identify progress and also report service delivery gaps with a view of preparing a consolidated report for the Technical MinMEC consisting of National Department of Public Works Director General and the Provincial Heads of Departments which also prepares its report for the National MinMEC chaired by Public Works Minister. The next Technical MinMEC is scheduled for two-days in Bloemfontein on the 5th and 6th of December 2016.

Keeping healthy is not only a case of maintaining your fitness level, but it also pertains to one’s well being physically, mentally and emotionally. The Office of the Premier’s Employee Health and Wellness Programme in partnership with the Government Employment Medical Scheme (GEMS) hosted the annual Provincial Employee Health and Wellness Day. The event took place on Friday the 18th of November 2016 at the Royal Agricultural Show Grounds in Pietermaritzburg. Provincial departments were represented including Public Works. The key objectives covered by the event were to encourage employees to live a more sustainable and healthier lifestyle as well as to commemorate the International Red Ribbon month by raising awareness and supporting people living with HIV and AIDS.

The first share of the programme was by Mr Mzwandile Gumede, the Director for Employee Health and Wellness at the Office of the Premier who welcomed the guests and gave introductory remarks which after a motivational speech from Mr Leon Grove, who addressed the audience which was treated to a healthy breakfast during registration. Leon highlighted effective ways in developing and improving employee health and wellness and encouraged the audience to restore balance in their lives by having a positive mind set, staying active and healthy, strong positive memories and taking care of one’s financial wellbeing.

International Red Ribbon Month was commemorated by the donation of the “Solidari-Tree” to the Office of the Premier. This initiative was the sole idea of Miss Michelle Vogelzang, who then gathered a variety of young artists to make this special tree. 130 children in and around South Africa were tasked to paper marche the whole tree. The project aids in tackling issues that contribute to the HIV and AIDS epidemic such as stigma and discrimination. Vogelzang, invited all the guests at the event to write messages of hope on a piece of paper, that were then folded into the AIDS symbols and added onto the tree, as the leaves of the tree.

Mr Vusi Masinga, Public Works’ Employee Health Wellness Practitioner, hanging his message of hope and

Miss Zethembiso Mthuli - Finance (CFO) Accounting Clerk - and Miss Nombuso Khumalo - Internal Audit & Risk Management – also from Public Works, hanging their message of hope on the tree.

In raising awareness and supporting people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS, Balindile Hlongwane, Deputy Director for Employee Health and Wellness at the Office of the Premier and Jenny Marx, Occupational Health and Safety Officer from COGTA, lead the symbolic lighting of a candle. It must be noted that the two ladies who openly disclosed their HIV status in hopes to encourage other people to come forward and disclose their statuses. The candle lit moment was then followed by a short moment of silence to remember people who have passed away or are living with the virus and those that have been left parentless due to the effects of HIV and AIDS.

As the programme continued, Mr Chris Sauer from the GEMS’ Fraud, Waste and Abuse component tackled issues that they are continuously faced with as a medical scheme and emphasised zero tolerance of non-compliance on GEMS policies. Thenjiwe, another representative from GEMS introduced and elaborated on the GEMS Workplace Fitness Programme. She encouraged the audience to enrol for the programme, highlighted its benefits and success which has already enrolled 28 000 people to the programme to date.

After all the speakers have concluded, the second part of the programme was an initiative to encourage employees to take necessary measures to sustain a healthier lifestyle hereafter GEMS Fitness introduced two fitness instructors, Ms Ntombenhle Mavundla and Ms Thando Dlamini to lead the fitness activities. Public Works employees were very enthusiastic and participated with high spirits in all the fitness activities. GEMS also went an extra mile to set up stalls which served different purposes such as: HIV testing and counselling, BMI (Body Mass Index) and Blood Pressure testing as well as massages for shoulders and the upper neck.

Department of Public Works members exercising during the fitness activities.

Mrs Jabu Gcabashe Maphanga, the Supply Chain Senior Administration Officer (right) getting herself a check-up at GEMS stall

The event was a success as it promoted a comprehensive “Wellness” to all employees present. Employee Health Wellness within Public Works strives to enrich the lives of employees by providing opportunities for workers to access a variety of tests such as Body Mass Index (BMI), Blood Pressure, Glucose, Cholesterol and HIV testing and counselling. The Department’s Employee Health and Wellness further assists by providing means of wellness support which is a comprehensive package of the physical, psychological and emotional well-being. The Public Works Employee Health Wellness team deserve to be commended in raising awareness to employees and taking the initiative to directly and indirectly equip and encourage employees to take an active stand in their lives. This is a tremendous gain for Public Works employees as it not only impacts one’s job satisfaction but in an individual’s personal life as well.