Vuk’uphile Learnership programme is a contractor development programme
by the Government of South Africa aimed at developing emerging contractors
into fully fledged contractors able to execute labour intensive projects.
Despite government’s commitment to emerging contractor empowerment
there are reports of poor performance by emerging contractors under the
learnership, this includes contractor turnover, some of the projects
undertaken had been abandoned, and some of the contractors or entities who
participated in the programme were not in the construction industry anymore.
This study examines progress of Vuk’uphile 2, whether it is achieving its
intended objectives in the Eastern Cape or not.
This study followed a qualitative approach, semi structured interviews and
documentary analysis was used for collecting data.
The findings indicate that the programme has a potential of utilizing
infrastructure development projects to develop sustainable enterprises and
draw significant numbers of people into meaningful participation in the
construction industry. Of the contractors who completed the prescripts of the
programme turned to be successful even after learnership.
The study recommends that systems of selecting learners, trainers and
mentors be strengthened and should be inducted on their respective roles in
Vuk’uphile. Mentors should be afforded constant performance evaluation.