By Lebone Rodah Mosima
Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson has withheld eThekwini’s EPWP funding for the 2026/27 financial year pending corrective action over Auditor-General findings of payments for services not rendered.
Speaking at a press briefing in uMhlanga, Macpherson said the AG had identified a material irregularity in the municipality’s administration of the programme during the 2021/22 financial year, including payments to ghost beneficiaries, deceased beneficiaries, people employed elsewhere in government and beneficiaries with no valid identity numbers.
Macpherson said the municipality had failed to provide verifiable records, including attendance registers and supporting documentation, to show that work had actually been performed by those who were paid.
He said the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure had formally received correspondence from the Auditor-General on 8 April about the matter.
“This decision was not taken lightly,” Macpherson said. “But it is a necessary decision.”
He said the municipality had 30 days to pass a council resolution endorsing a full investigation into the findings, a remedial action plan with clear timeframes and reporting lines, and disciplinary and criminal action where appropriate.
“This is not optional,” he said. “This is required if there is to be any prospect of restoring integrity to the programme in eThekwini.”
Macpherson said the matter was “entirely avoidable” because the concerns had been identified during the 2021/22 audit cycle, the municipality had been notified and recommendations had been made, but the AG found that the remedial steps were not adequately implemented.
He said the national department, as coordinator of the EPWP, did not implement municipal projects, appoint beneficiaries or make payments, but was required to act to prevent further exposure of public funds once a material irregularity had been escalated.
The EPWP is a poverty-alleviation programme aimed at creating short-term work opportunities across government.
He said the programme “must work for the unemployed person standing in line for an honest opportunity” and “must not work for ghost names on a spreadsheet”.
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