KwaDukuza Municipality dismisses call for EPWP audit amid ghost workers allegation
While the DA has claimed there may be ghost beneficiaries in the Expanded Public Works Programme, KwaDukuza Municipality has dismissed calls for an audit.
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KwaDukuza Municipality has dismissed the need for an audit of its Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) after the DA raised concern about “ghost beneficiaries”.
DA KwaDukuza caucus leader Councillor Privi Makhan raised the party's concerns on Tuesday.
“It has come to our attention that there are growing allegations of ghost EPWP beneficiaries and unions allegedly soliciting councillors for EPWP placements in favour of their own politically connected deployees,” said Makhan.
She urged the municipality’s Internal Audit Department to investigate EPWP appointments for the 2024/25 financial year and submit the findings to the Executive Committee or Full Council. “Transparency is non-negotiable,” she said.
In response, the municipality stated that it had received no complaints or evidence of irregularities that would justify an audit. “KwaDukuza Municipality’s Internal Audit has not received any complaints and has conducted no investigations relating to the EPWP recruitment process,” the municipality said.
Regarding the DA’s call, the municipality stated: “The authority to commission an investigation into any perceived maladministration or wrongdoing vests with the Municipal Council and/or the Municipal Manager. Procedurally, a councillor cannot instruct an official to conduct an audit or an investigation of any kind as there is no empowering provision in law or policy that empowers a councillor to do so.”
The municipality further explained that the EPWP, as a poverty alleviation programme, is coordinated “through the Office of the Speaker, in consultation with the ward councillors”.