October 2010

Durban - National government is set to pour more resources into municipalities so that they can fully exploit the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).

The Department of Public Works is expected to meet with the MECs and mayors from the nine provinces soon to ascertain the next step in their respective EPWP programmes.

In addition to financial support, mayors will receive assistance in technical areas.

"Municipalities will receive technical support across all EPWP sectors to optimise the implementation of EPWP and will be provided in the form of monitoring and evaluation, training, enterprise development of all municipal projects," said Doidge, speaking at the end of a three-day EPWP Summit in Durban.

The summit found that work opportunities were being created but not properly reported by the municipalities. The department therefore will be developing an implementation manual.

Effective reporting of EPWP projects allows municipalities to access incentives grants, which is something KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Gauteng has managed to do efficiently.

The cepezed-designed Jinso-pavilion on the Arena Boulevard in Amsterdam has won the Dutch National Steel Prize 2010 in the category commercial and industrial buildings. The prize was presented during the National Steel Day on October 14th. With the Jinso-pavilion, cepezed has won its sixth National Steel Prize from a total of no less then seventeen nominations over the years. Earlier, the office also won two Belgian and two European Steel Prizes. 

Source: http://www.youtube.com/user/HaneefT

architectureZA - Architect Peter Rich being interviewed on one of his recent building, the visitors centre at Mapungubwe. The building won the 2009 World Building of the Year prize.

Recorded off 50/50 on SABC2 2010 08 30. The interview is unfortunately incomplete, so I've included some of my photographs of the place.

Cape Town - Minister of Public Service and Administration, Richard Baloyi, today signed an agreement pledging to create an efficient public sector which would help to increase service delivery by government and boost efforts to tackle corruption.

Baloyi said the delivery agreement, which is part of one of the 12 outcomes adopted by Cabinet earlier this year, would be phased in over four years.

In the agreement, the department pledges to focus on developing more skilled public servants, better business processes, foster a national identity and improve social cohesion.

The implementation of the agreement will be reviewed annually in consultation with the Department for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency.

Baloyi said the new outcomes-based approach was being introduced at a time when access to government services had "improved significantly" since 1994. However, he added that services still needed to be vamped up.

A study conducted by the department in 2009 into service points revealed many people were still travelling long distances to access services.