-
EPWP workers on site
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) says the decision to suspend the funding of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) for the Matjhabeng Local Municipality in the Free State must be reconsidered.
This comes after the Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson halted the funding following reports of corruption and mismanagement in the municipality.
Politically connected individuals in the municipality allegedly received inflated salaries under the programme.
An investigation into the allegations has been launched.
[WATCH] Parliament’s portfolio committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs says there is a culture and a line of impunity, corruption and irregularities in municipalities. pic.twitter.com/2mEVEWo7Aw
— SABC News (@SABCNews) July 27, 2025
The Committee’s chairperson Dr. Zweli Mkhize believes that only the accused staff should be suspended.
“The bulk of the people who are involved in the EPWP are very poor people who receive a stipend of about R2 600 every month and have no means of their own to have any income. Now because there is a known number that the allegations are about, I would have said those are the ones that they must suspend their salaries until they complete the investigation.”
