Note to Editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Cllr Eleanor Quinta and Sesotho soundbite by Cllr Ana Motaung.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Maluti-a-Phofung (MAP) will submit formal questions to the Council to hold the ANC Executive Mayor accountable for the complete failure to implement the 2012 Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) policy.
This policy, dated September 2012 and provided to the DA, outlines precise requirements for job creation, coordination, and skills development. It requires the establishment of a Steering Committee, collaboration between departments, project planning, reporting structures, and, most importantly, training and skills development for participants. Yet, none of these guidelines has been implemented in MAP.
Instead, the ANC-led municipality has reduced the programme to a politically driven system. Ward councillors are instructed to appoint 50 participants per ward, with no restrictions on the selection of family or relatives. Councillors are then placed in charge of managing these participants, often without providing protective equipment, tools, or meaningful work. There is no oversight, no reporting, and no coordination of projects.
This abuse has stripped the EPWP of its original purpose. The ANC has turned a national poverty alleviation policy into a patronage scheme that benefits councillors, their families, and friends rather than residents in need of real opportunities.
The consequences for the community are devastating. Despite approximately R34 million being spent annually on the EPWP in MAP, 1,750 participants exit the programme each year without any training or skills development. They are left with nothing to improve their chances in the job market, while the unemployment crisis in MAP deepens.
This is not only a failure of governance; it is a betrayal of the residents who deserve genuine empowerment through work and skills. Job creation and economic growth are supposed to be at the heart of the EPWP, but under ANC mismanagement, it has become nothing more than a feeding scheme.
The DA will hold the Mayor fully accountable for this gross oversight. MAP’s people cannot afford to waste more money, opportunities, and futures.