The Mopani District Municipality in Limpopo has 177 non-existent Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) workers, including foreign nationals whose details are used to defraud the municipality.
The district’s Internal audit unit conducted verification of EPWP beneficiaries in May 2024 where all the beneficiaries were requested to go to the office with ID cards.
Out of 674 active beneficiaries on their payroll, only 177 participants could not be conclusively verified.
According to the MDM executive mayor, Pule Shayi the investigation was prompted when these ghost workers failed to show up at a designated meeting point when required.
“When we visited various satellite offices and requested to meet all EPWP workers, we discovered that 117 individuals would not report for duty, even after threatening to have their salaries withheld, they still failed to show up,” Shayi said.
Shayi revealed this during deputy minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Gogta) Dickson Masemola’s oversight visit in Mopani District on March 24.
The district mayor said they randomly selected two cases for verification.
“In the first case, we called a gentleman and asked, ‘Chief, are you an employee of Mopani?’ He responded, ‘No, I’m on the road, driving a truck to Durban to deliver materials.”
The executive mayor further revealed that the man admitted to receiving salary from the municipality on a monthly basis.
“When we questioned him about the monthly payments he has been getting every month, he admitted receiving the money but said it wasn’t for him but for someone else, saying ‘the money comes into my account, then I transfer it to a friend in your district,” he added.
The Mopani District Municipality spokesperson Odas Ngobeni said they have opened five criminal cases of fraud and financial misconduct with the police.
“So far, it is only one official suspended from the Technical Services Directorate in relation to this matter. The Municipality will implement consequence management informed by the outcomes of this investigation,” Ngobeni explained.
The Democratic Alliance leader in Mopani District municipaliry, Mahlatswa Ramalepe said they welcome the municipal investigations into the EPWP ghost workers, after they raised it in August 2024.
“Resigned EPWP participants were not terminated on the municipal payroll upon replacement and still received monthly stipends from August 2023 to February 2024, while those reached 60-years, their contracts were not terminated,” Ramalepe said.
The total budget allocated for EPWP amounted to more than R13 million (R 13,488,841) yet the total expenditure recorded stands at over R16 million (R 16,886,965).
Ramalepe said that the internal audit revealed that the district municipality overspend over R 3 million, from the allocated R13. 488,841 for the EPWP workers, while the total expenditure skyrocketed to R16. 886,965 as of August 2024.
