- DA opposed ANC-led Council attempts to pre-commit additional EPWP funds for the 2027/28 financial year.
- The ANC-led Council has dismally failed to meet EPWP opportunity targets for the last five years.
- The DA believes the municipality should instead investigate financially sustainable options to increase EPWP opportunities during the current 2026/27 financial year.
The DA in Lephalale today opposed an attempt by the ANC-led Council to pre-commit at least R2 million from the municipality’s 2027/28 financial year towards the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and views this as a desperate election winning attempt, while also exposing a glaring double standard in how the ANC treats decisions that will affect the incoming Council. The DA supports EPWP and the expansion of legitimate work opportunities for unemployed residents.
With the Local Government Elections weeks away, the ANC is attempting to commit a future council to spending that will only take effect in the 2027/28 financial year.
For five consecutive financial years, Lephalale Local Municipality had an annual EPWP target of 118 work opportunities but repeatedly fell substantially short:
– 23 opportunities in 2021/22,
– 30 opportunities in 2022/23,
– 51 opportunities in 2023/24,
– 60 opportunities in 2024/25, and
– 67 opportunities in 2025/26.
Despite this persistent underperformance, the ANC-led municipality did not make the additional financial contributions necessary to reach the target.
The sudden urgency after years of underperformance, combined with the proximity of the Local Government Elections, creates a legitimate concern that EPWP is being treated as election season currency rather than a sustainable employment programme.
What makes the ANC’s position even more difficult to justify is the double standard in its approach to future appointments.
The ANC’s position is inconsistent. When it suited them, they argued that major decisions should be left to the incoming Council. Yet they now want to bind that same future Council to spending commitments.
The municipality should instead investigate lawful and financially sustainable options to increase EPWP opportunities during the current 2026/27 financial year. Residents need opportunities now, not promises against a budget that has not yet been adopted.
In the upcoming LGE elections we are committed to get Lephalale working for all, as well as ensuring that EPWP appointments are fair, transparent and free from political interference. Lephalale deserves opportunities built on sound governance, not double standards and election-year promises.