EPWP goes digital to stamp out fraud
The Expanded Public Works Programme is designed to fight poverty and unemployment by giving people temporary work and skills training.
MARTIN Meyer, the MEC for the KZN Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI), has announced that his department is ditching paper and digitising the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) to eliminate fraud.
Also read: eThekwini launches new programme to replace EPWP
Meyer, an Amanzimtoti resident, said the EPWP unit, in collaboration with the departmental information and communication technology (ICT) unit, recently held a high-level strategic workshop aimed at devising mechanisms for the smooth rollout of the paperless reporting tool for EPWP beneficiaries.
The EPWP is a government programme that is designed to fight poverty and unemployment by giving people temporary work and skills training. Workers get paid a stipend while building or improving community assets. The Auditor General of SA flagged it for irregularities in the 2021/2022 financial year, which included payments to deceased individuals and to employees who do not exist. To find employment in the programme, it was alleged that job seekers were made to provide sexual favours to those in charge of the employment process or prove their political affiliation.
Meyer said the digitisation is aimed at countering falsified reports, curbing absenteeism and enforcing accurate reporting.
“This intervention follows a resolution on the EPWP digital tools taken during the ICT innovation and Tech Day held in Mayville recently. Once implemented, the province will lead an intervention which will assist EPWP to eliminate fraud, speed up payroll, validate the location of workers and improve oversight,” said Meyer.
Meanwhile, on July 2, the eThekwini Municipality’s executive committee approved a six-month extension of the current EPWP contracts to ensure the continuity of critical services across the City. The extension has a budget of R53.49m, funded through a combination of R7.49m from the EPWP grant and R46m from the municipality.
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