Public works and infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson has suspended funding for the eThekwini municipality’s expanded public works programme for the 2026/2027 financial year over alleged irregular payments to ghost workers.
Macpherson, who was joined at a briefing on Tuesday by KwaZulu-Natal public works and infrastructure MEC Martin Meyer and deputy director-general responsible for the EPWP Carmen-Joy Abrahams, directed funding be withheld pending urgent corrective action after irregularities were identified by the auditor-general.
The AG found payments made for services not rendered, including to ghost, deceased and ineligible beneficiaries, with the municipality failing to act on these findings since the 2021/22 audit cycle.
The minister has given the municipality 30 days to pass a council resolution to investigate the matter, implement a corrective action plan and institute disciplinary and criminal proceedings.
“We are here today because the matter before us is serious. It is serious not only because it concerns public money. It is serious because it concerns money that was meant to support poor and unemployed South Africans through work opportunities created across government programmes, including through the EPWP.
“The EPWP is not funded by a single source but through a framework applied across government programmes, where work opportunities are created using a combination of existing budgets, including municipal funds, infrastructure grants and EPWP incentives,” Macpherson said.
“It is meant to be a poverty-alleviation programme. It is meant to give hope to people in communities where opportunities are scarce, where households are under pressure, and where even a short-term work opportunity can mean the difference between survival and despair.
“That is why any abuse of this programme is so deeply offensive and undermines the people of South Africa.”
He said on April 8 he was informed by the AG’s office about the material irregularity in the municipality’s administration of the EPWP in the 2021/22 financial year.
The municipality was unable to provide verifiable records, including attendance registers and supporting documentation, to demonstrate that work was actually performed by the individuals who were paid.
He said while the department was the national co-ordinator of the EPWP, the responsibility for the accuracy, completeness and verification of beneficiary data rested with the implementing public body.
“Let us be very clear about what that means. It means a programme intended to support vulnerable people appears to have been used to channel public money to people who should never have been paid in the first place. This tarnishes the name of the EPWP.
“It means there was a failure of basic controls.
“The municipality, in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act and the EPWP regulatory framework, is solely responsible for its expenditure controls, payroll systems, beneficiary management, record keeping and consequence management. The department does not have direct access to, or control over, municipal payroll systems or payment processes.”
He said the AG notified the municipality of the irregularities and made recommendations for corrective action, however these weren’t undertaken.
The municipality didn’t immediately respond to queries.
TimesLIVE
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