WHEN eThekwini Municipality was given a 30-day ultimatum to enforce corrective measures in its Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) or lose funding, Councillor André Beetge said it was a matter of chickens finally coming home to roost.
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This comes after the Auditor-General of South Africa’s (AGSA) report flagged irregularities in the programme, which include payments to deceased individuals, payments to employees who do not exist, and beneficiaries with no valid identity numbers. The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure said in some instances, job seekers had to provide sexual favours or prove their political affiliation to be employed.
The EPWP is a government initiative that provides temporary work, income relief, and skills training to the unemployed. It uses public sector expenditure to create labour-intensive projects, targeting youth, women, and people with disabilities to reduce poverty and increase employability.
As a result, minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, gave eThekwini 30 days to adopt a council resolution instituting an investigation and corrective measures, or the programme will lose funding for the 2026/27 financial year.
Beetge said for years, warnings about EPWP were dismissed as political noise.
“The recent intervention by Macpherson has forced into the open what many suspected but few in authority were willing to confront. A programme intended to provide dignity through work has instead become a vehicle vulnerable to abuse, patronage, and systemic failure,” said Beetge.
Macpherson said the findings against the EPWP are serious because it concerns money that was meant to support poor and unemployed South Africans through work opportunities.
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“The municipality was notified, recommendations were made, and opportunities were provided for corrective action. Yet the Auditor-General concluded that the recommendations were not adequately implemented within the stipulated period, and that appropriate action was not taken to address the material irregularity,” said Macpherson.
The 30 days the minister gave the municipality started on April 14.
In response, eThekwini said it was committed to ensuring that the EPWP is administered in a transparent, accountable, and lawful manner. After the AGSA first flagged EPWP payments during the 2021/22 financial year, eThekwini’s spokesperson, Gugu Sisilana, said the City implemented a series of remedial actions to address the matter and to prevent any recurrence. She said these included the recovery of losses where applicable, disciplinary and/or legal action against implicated officials, and strengthening of internal control systems and verification processes.
“The municipality continues to cooperate fully with the AGSA and has been submitting regular progress reports on the implementation of the remedial action plan, in line with legislative requirements,” she said.
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