Women empowerment projects grows in leaps and bounds

Delegates of housing departments from different provinces recently visited construction project sites by women owned companies around Gauteng.

The aim of the tour was to showcase achievements by Gauteng on women empowerment projects such as construction sites by women.

"Women contractors are expected to be trained at the same time produce," said Solly Mokoena Acting Assistant Project Manager of Tshepong Proper and Tshepiso Proper in Sedibeng district municipality. "But so far I am impressed with their work," he added.

These are some of the strategies to implement the mandate of the Women In Housing Forum (WIHF) established by the former Minister of Housing Sanki Mthembi-Mahanyele. The forum consists of representatives from all the provinces whose responsibility is to report back and evaluate on progress made thus far on women empowerment in all provinces.

Last year's report shows that Gauteng is one of the leading provinces with regard to women empowerment hence the need to make sure that those skills are transferred to other provinces as well.

The delegation visited Tshepong Proper and Tshepiso Proper, two construction sites by two women contractors in Sedibeng district municipality. The two women have a challenging task of training local women labourers and building a total of 1 463 low-cost houses by 31 March this year. They were advised to apply for an extension of time and the department is still waiting for their proposal.

The houses are 36 square meters with a bathroom and a toilet inside the house to eradicate shacks in the province.