EPWP Wage Crisis Deepens Amid IDT Corruption Claims

EPWP Workers in Gauteng Unpaid Amid IDT Tender Scandal

Hundreds of Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) workers in Gauteng say they have not received their wages for months, following allegations of corruption involving the Independent Development Trust (IDT) and a high-profile contractor.

A Daily Maverick investigation claimed that businessman Collen Mashawana, who secured a multi-million rand EPWP tender, allegedly made two payments towards the private property of suspended IDT CEO Tebogo Malaka. This has raised concerns that funds intended to pay workers may have been misused.

The South African National Civic Organisation’s (SANCO) spokesperson, Mzukisi Jam, described the situation as “heartbreaking” and accused those involved of “stealing from the poorest of the poor without conscience.” He revealed that some workers, expected to earn R1,700, were instead reportedly paid as little as R360.

Jam criticised the outsourcing of the government’s EPWP initiative to private foundations, arguing that if the programme were still managed directly by the Department of Public Works, such abuses could have been prevented. He also lamented the lack of monitoring mechanisms to ensure workers are paid fairly.

Public Works Minister Sihle Zikalala has since laid criminal charges against Malaka. While SANCO welcomed the suspension, Jam called for further suspensions and deeper investigations into the matter, urging investigative journalists to “dig deeper in uprooting the rot.”

He also expressed frustration at what he described as a systemic failure to address corruption, saying that despite repeated marches and appeals to government leaders, “our calls always fall on deaf ears.”

The scandal has further fueled criticism of South Africa’s Government of National Unity, which Jam accused of showing “no difference” from its predecessors in tackling corruption.