The City of Cape Town has delivered more than 203 000 temporary work opportunities through its city-wide Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) portfolio over the past five financial years from 2021/22 to 2025/26. The numbers demonstrate the City’s commitment to supporting residents through opportunities to earn an income, workplace experience, and skills development.

Between the 2021/22 and 2025/26 financial years, the City recorded 203 128 EPWP work opportunities, with annual delivery consistently ranging between 35 000 and 44 000 opportunities. 

The programme recorded:

• 40 600 opportunities in 2021/22
• 43 230 in 2022/23
• 44 000 in 2023/24
• 40 053 in 2024/25 and
• 35 245 in 2025/26

These opportunities were delivered through hundreds of projects across City departments and directorates, including operational public employment projects and dedicated skills development initiatives.

The Public Empowerment and Development Department supports the City-wide programme through governance, coordination, monitoring and institutional support to ensure public employment initiatives are implemented effectively across the organisation.

‘These temporary work opportunities are an important mechanism through which local government can support residents who face economic challenges while simultaneously enhancing service delivery across communities. The City has consistently delivered over 35 000 opportunities each financial year, which demonstrates both the scale and sustainability of our public employment programme. This highlights the City's ability to combine service delivery with meaningful employment support for residents,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Corporate Services, Alderman Theresa Uys.

The City has also expanded its focus on skills development.

Over the five-year period, the City created 10 427 opportunities through EPWP skills projects, with 2 333 participants that were engaged through these skills-focused projects in 2025/26 alone. Since 1 July 2026, the City has recorded 36 EPWP skills projects, and although recruitment is still underway, 2 088 participants have already enrolled.

‘While the scale of delivery is significant, our focus is increasingly on the long-term value participants gain from these opportunities. Through skills development and workplace exposure, we aim to improve employability and help residents build pathways towards future economic opportunities so that they can find more permanent employment, or even consider starting their own businesses,’ said Alderman Uys.

The City views the achievement as an important foundation for the next phase of public employment development, which will place greater emphasis on strengthening employability outcomes, supporting skills acquisition, and enhancing pathways beyond temporary work opportunities.