By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Minister of Public Works (DPWI), Dean Macpherson has lifted suspension on the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) funding in the Matjhabeng Local Municipality in the Free State.
This comes after the investigations by the department revealed that EPWP funds have not been misappropriated.
Fullview reported the abuse of EPWP funds in Matjhabeng, which was linked to several African National Congress (ANC) individuals, who are receiving inflated salaries far exceeding the programme’s guidelines.
Those individuals are earning over R30,000 per month, far above the EPWP stipend, while ordinary workers and unemployed youth struggle.
These salaries, under EPWP department code 0690, are more than ten times the average stipend (typically R2,900 to R5,000 per month) and violate the programme’s rules for temporary, skills-based jobs prioritising vulnerable groups like youth, women, and people with disabilities.
Municipal insiders described this as a “salary parachute for loyal comrades” under Executive Mayor Thanduxolo Khalipha’s administration, preventing job access for thousands of unemployed young people in areas like Welkom, Odendaalsrus, and Thabong.
However Macpherson said the individual highlighted in media reports are not EPWP participants and are not paid from the EPWP integrated grant.
While these officials’ salaries are significantly higher than the EPWP stipend, their contracts are municipal appointments linked to the executive mayor’s term and fall outside the EPWP framework.
Macpherson said the investigation established that all EPWP integrated grant allocations for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years were fully spent on approved projects, creating 373 and 751 work opportunities, respectively.
“Expenditure patterns reported by the municipality correlated with proof of payment to participants,” he said.
Macpherson said the municipality has to answer itself on the merits of establishing an EPWP support unit using funding from the municipality’s budget.
He said EPWP projects are essential in creating work opportunities and developing new skills for job seekers. He had been criticised by the municipality and unions for temporarily halting these funds.
The EPWP is implemented within four sectors; namely, the Infrastructure Sector and the Non-State Sector coordinated by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure; Social Sector coordinated by the Department of Social Development; and the Environment and Culture Sector coordinated by Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.
Since its inception the programme has created more than 14 million work opportunities across all the EPWP Sectors through more than 300 public bodies and Non-Profit Organisations (NPO) implementing the EPWP.
The work opportunities were created in sectors such as road constructions, road maintenance, construction of schools and clinics, provision of Early Childhood Development Services, Environmental greening and clean-up projects, fire projects and removal of alien vegetation projects.