The DA calls on the Mopani District Mayor, Pule Shai, to urgently implement a consequence management strategy for all implicated officials and to take action to rectify the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) audit findings in the Audit Committee report to council presented during the ordinary council sitting on 30 July 2024.
The report paints a dire picture of the ANC-led administration’s poor handling of the program with findings that included:
- Unverified number of EPWP beneficiaries on the payroll (in that 117 out of 674 active EPWP beneficiaries could not be conclusively verified),
- Resigned EPWP participants were not terminated on the municipal payroll upon replacement and still received monthly stipends from August 2023 to February 2024.
- Employment contracts not terminated upon the beneficiary reaching the age of 60.
- During the internal audit of employee verifications for EPWP participants it was discovered that the EPWP budget has been significantly overspent. The total budget allocated for EPWP amounted to R 13,488,841 yet the total expenditure recorded stands at R 16,886,965 . This represents an overspend of R 3,398,124 indicating a substantial deviation from the allocated budget and will likely result in unauthorized expenditure.
- EPWP participants exceeded the 24-month program contract limit within any five year cycle and EPWP participants had missing contracts.
The audit findings revealed ineffective and inadequate internal controls, poor management of the programme and a lack of good governance that must be investigated and addressed.
The DA calls on the Mayor to study the audit findings and urgently report to council with a time-bound consequence management strategy for all implicated officials to mitigate the extent of the alleged rampant maladministration.
We are committed to effective good governance and will monitor the implementation of the recommendations of this report and will not rest until all those implicated are held accountable.