Six Jozi co-operatives in line for Jozi@Work millions
23 November 2016
Six co-operatives in the City of Johannesburg’s Region B will share up to R4.7-million in three Jozi@Work packages presented by the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) and Johannesburg City Parks & Zoo (JCP&Z) at two packed regional forums on Tuesday November 22.
The City, through Jozi@Work, seeks to enter into partnerships with co-operatives in the region in the delivery of municipal services such as road maintenance, tour guiding, hand excavation, block paving, tree planting and horticultural maintenance in Westdene and Sophiatown early in the New Year.
In the first work package presented by the JDA in Brixton and Windsor East, the entity announced that four co-operatives or small township businesses would share up to R4-million for hand excavation and block paving in the two areas.
The second work package, also announced by the JDA, entails the refurbishment of Union Stadium in Westbury at an estimated cost of R531 000. Starting in March 2017, the work will include the preparation of topsoil and planting of kikuyu grass and its maintenance. The work will take place over an estimated period of four months.
The JDA’s Development Manager, Humbelani Mudau, said requirements to carry out planting and landscaping were not intensive. “People are only required to have basic background in garden services because 90% of the work will be garden-related work,” he said.
JCP&Z Project Manager Winnie Seremane announced that the entity was seeking to partner with a co-operative or small business in the provision of services such as weeding, raking, litter picking, grass cutting, sweeping and tour guiding in places around Victoria Road, Good Street, Herman Street, 3rd Avenue, Monmouth Road and Tenby Street, among others.
Bid forms must be submitted at 35 Symons Street in Auckland Park, near the SABC, before noon on Tuesday November 29.
Jozi@Work is a R3-billion mass empowerment and job creation programme aimed at addressing poverty, unemployment and inequality facing the City.
Every year since 2014, the City’s entities and departments have set aside a percentage of their annual budgets for Jozi@Work to afford ordinary residents the opportunity to provide the metro with a range of municipal services – work that would ordinarily be carried out by big and established companies.
More than 5 000 small township and co-operatives have been registered for the programme.