The Tshwane metro has pushed back against claims that Ward 98 was excluded from Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) opportunities, stating that the ward did in fact benefit from the initiative during the current financial year.

This follows concerns raised by Ward 98 councillor Mickey van der Westhuizen, who alleged that his ward, along with Ward 2, had not received EPWP allocations despite submissions being made to the relevant authorities.

According to metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo, a total of 754 EPWP work opportunities have been allocated across Region 1.

Mashigo confirmed that Ward 98 received 61 EPWP participants, contradicting claims that the ward had been excluded from the programme.

“Allocation of the participants is based on requests from departments or regions in accordance with their needs,” said Mashigo.

He explained that EPWP opportunities are not distributed equally per ward, but rather allocated depending on operational requirements submitted by various departments and regional offices.

He added that the Community Social Development Services Department is responsible for managing and approving EPWP allocations in Region 1.

Mashigo further stated that the metro has systems in place to ensure fairness and transparency in the allocation process.

“The metro introduced an artificial [intelligence] system called the lottery selection process that is free from human interference, inclusive of the Group Audit Risk, ICT, Group Human Capital, and EPWP office. Councillors are part of this selection as observers,” he said.

The metro also indicated that a full breakdown of EPWP allocations per ward in Region 1 has been compiled and shared with the councillor.

Despite this, Van der Westhuizen maintains that there are inconsistencies in how opportunities are distributed and communicated at ward level.

“There are 28 wards in Region 1, and [the] only two wards represented by DA councillors have not benefited from EPWP,” he said.

He added that ward offices had submitted the required documentation to participate in the programme, but residents had not seen the expected outcomes.

“They can’t say it’s because people didn’t submit forms, because we submitted the forms ourselves,” he said.

The councillor also suggested that broader challenges within the administration may be affecting service delivery and programme implementation.

“I personally feel the current administration is playing a political game,” he said.

While the metro maintains that allocations are needs-based and guided by departmental requests, the differing accounts highlight ongoing tensions between ward-level leadership and municipal structures over resource distribution and communication.

The issue forms part of wider service delivery concerns raised in Ward 98, where residents have also reported challenges related to infrastructure maintenance and municipal responsiveness.

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