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Daily Maverick
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Panyaza Lesufi's Nasi iSpani plagued by payment chaos while relaunch looms
Less than a month after Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi announced that his highly criticised Nasi Ispani employment recruitment initiative would be relaunched, more information on the initiative's struggles to pay Expanded Public Works Programme workers has come to light. In 2024, more than 4,000 workers in Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi's Nasi iSpani 'Green Army' project faced significant payment delays, with millions of rands having to be diverted from other departments to cover the stipend shortfalls. The revelation comes as Lesufi pushes ahead with a controversial relaunch of the employment initiative, sparking concerns about its funding and sustainability amid a fragile public trust in government programmes. In a written reply to a question from the Democratic Alliance in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, the province's Agriculture and Rural Development MEC, Vuyiswa Ramokgopa, revealed that between June and November 2024, 4,716 workers in Lesufi's Green Army project were not paid on time by both the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Department of the Environment. Lesufi's Green Army project was launched unfunded in May 2024. According to MEC Ramokgopa's reply, the Expanded Public Works Project (EPWP) workers involved had previously been funded by a budget allocated to the departments of the Environment and Agriculture and Rural Development, which ran from April 2023 to March 2024. When the Nasi iSpani project ended abruptly in November last year (along with all other projects under the Nasi iSpani banner), it had already spent R73-million on the Green Army, an expenditure that left the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development unable to pay service providers. Additionally, another R59-million had to be diverted from the Environment Department between September and November to pay the stipends of the 6,000 workers in the programme. According to Ramokgopa's reply to the DA's questions, this was because the programme's extension from June to August 2024 for the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and from June to November of the same year for the Environment Department, was not budgeted for. 'Reckless' 'This reckless extension, which was not budgeted for, meant that the EPWP workers had to be paid from the goods and services programme. This has had a negative effect on all creditors being paid within 30 days,' Gauteng MPL and DA Shadow Agriculture MEC Bronwynn Engelbrecht said. In a statement released on Tuesday, 17 June, Engelbrecht said that her party was demanding that before Lesufi relaunched Nasi iSpani, the Gauteng premier ensured that 'there is enough money to pay all workers on time and that money is not taken from the budgets of other service delivery programmes'. The benefits that public works employment programmes create, particularly for young and marginalised people, have been well documented. They provide pathways into employment and education, effectively combating unemployment and poverty. However, for them to be successful, they have to be well-planned and adequately funded. In cases where they are not, as with Nasi iSpani, the job programmes fall short of providing the long-term security and skills development that young people need to build sustainable livelihoods. 'Demoralising' Adam Cooper, researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), told Daily Maverick that while employment programmes act as a lifeline for young people, they can be deeply demoralising when not implemented properly. 'To many young people, the money they get from public employment programmes is a kind of security for them while they are also fighting the war [on poverty and unemployment] on a bunch of other fronts. If that money doesn't come in, it can be very disheartening to young people and frustrating for them to keep trying to find employment,' Cooper said. In South Africa's current sociopolitical climate, the relationship between people and the state was very fragile, he said, adding that confidence in government programmes was already low, and when promised opportunities turned out to be unreliable, it further eroded trust. 'If programmes are advertised and then they don't pay, it can be very damaging to people having confidence that the government is trying to support them,' Cooper said. The challenges highlighted by Cooper — such as late payments, poor planning and the erosion of trust between young people and government — underscore the need for a more reliable and accountable approach to public employment programmes. In response to these issues, the DA's Engelbrecht said that 'a DA-led Gauteng provincial government will not implement any job creation programme without first ensuring that there is a sufficient budget for the programme. Our unemployed residents need a government that is willing to ensure that they are paid on time for services rendered and do not have to wait longer than the payment date stated in their contracts.' Nasi iSpani 2.0 concerns arise The ball is already rolling on the relaunch of Nasi iSpani, despite heavy criticism from within the African National Congress (ANC) and from opposition parties, including the Economic Freedom Fighters and ActionSA. In May, Lesufi announced that his employment drive, which has been labelled an 'electioneering gimmick' by critics, would receive a second instalment, this time focusing on placing teacher assistants in schools across the province. This instalment of the programme aims to create 40,000 jobs, and while it has been welcomed by the Congress of South African Trade Unions, it has come under fire from parties such as the DA. Refiole Nt'sekhe, MPL and DA Gauteng representative for Social Development, referenced an oral reply made by Social Development MEC Faith Mazibuko, who revealed that – similar to what happened in the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development – the Department of Social Development had had to make a special request for R48-million to be reallocated to cover the cost of the stipends for workers in the Nasi iSpani programme. 'This confirms that Nasi iSpani is an unfunded mandate that expects departments to create jobs without funding to meet this objective,' said Nt'sekhe. However, during the relaunch of the project, Lesufi hit back at critics, saying, 'We are not doing this for political mileage; we're doing this to fight unemployment. On one hand, you see poor homes, incomplete infrastructure, and unmaintained roads. On the other hand, youth are unemployed. So we train them, pay them and get them working.' Daily Maverick asked how the premier intended to ensure the relaunch of Nasi iSpani was well funded, sustainable and did not negatively affect the programmes in other departments. Lesufi's office had not responded to the request for comment by the time of publication. DM
TimesLIVE
13-06-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
Deon Macpherson vows to end unfair treatment and bribery in EPWP
Public works and infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson has vowed to stop bribery, unfair treatment and nepotism in the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). Macpherson made this promise during an EPWP listening tour at the Disaster Management Centre in Johannesburg on Friday. During the discussion with the community, Macpherson heard how municipal officials were allegedly abusing their roles in the programme through nepotism, bribery and misuse of funds. Macpherson said the programme was aimed at creating work opportunities for those most affected by poverty and excluded from participating in the formal economy because of age. 'It is important that we are able to give people opportunities to employment and to better their lives with skills', he said.
News24
10-06-2025
- Business
- News24
New recruitment platform aiming to protect job seekers from scams enters the market
Thato Gololo/News24 New employment platform Spaan launched on Tuesday with 252 users, aiming to protect job seekers from scams in both formal and informal sectors. Spaan uses USSD codes and WhatsApp to improve access for users without smartphones or data. The platform was created in response to widespread job scams that have led to some victims incurring debt, with one person losing over R60 000 in just two weeks. A new employment platform was launched on Tuesday to protect job seekers from scams that prey on unemployed job seekers. Founder and CEO Afika Nontso said Spaan aims to restore trust in the job market through verification while ensuring accessibility. He said the platform was built for both the formal and informal job sectors. 'The first part when looking at [the informal] market is access. Do they have access to the internet and technology that will allow them to come onto the platform? It's not like the formal sector where you can catch them all online. We need to meet these people where they are.' As of Tuesday, the official launch day, the platform had 252 users. Spaan distinguishes itself by utilising USSD and WhatsApp for registration to make the service more accessible to those without smartphones or data. Nontso previously worked for a company that assisted the City of Tshwane in implementing its Expanded Public Works Programme, a government programme aimed at creating work opportunities for unemployed people. He said the programme had massive growth once it implemented its USSD-based registration system. Realising that access to verifiable but accessible job opportunities was lacking in South Africa, he was motivated to launch the platform. He has spent the last ten months working on realising his goal. The platform allows verified employers to send job offers through Spaan, which job seekers can accept via WhatsApp or USSD. Its search feature enables employers to filter candidates based on criteria including age, criminal background checks and driver's licence status. Employers can only see candidates who have verified their ID, which costs R30. Similarly, an employer can only register on the platform by connecting a verified ID. A job scam victim told News24 about being approached via WhatsApp for a freelance writing position. The victim, who asked not to be named said: I was approached online via WhatsApp to say there is a part-time freelance writer gig, and I think what interested me then is that it would not take too much of my time. The scammers requested banking details and instructed the victim to download Telegram. They then requested increasing amounts of money to access additional jobs, promising that the money would be returned with commission. The scam resulted in over R60 000 in debt within two weeks, beginning with small deposits of R250. When she requested her money back, the scammers disabled the WhatsApp and Telegram contacts. She said a platform like Spaan would have 'helped a lot' in her research to determine if the company that approached her was legitimate. Nontso says his goal is to require a Spaan verification report from every employer and job seeker in the country to avoid situations such as this.
The Citizen
03-06-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
How many ghost workers are there in government?
There are more than two million people on the public sector payroll., and not all of them are actual people doing actual work. A single municipal education department was found to be paying ghost workers R6.4m in salaries last year. The issue is likely to poison every tier of government. Picture: AdobeStock How many public sector employees are fake? It's a question we must confront if we are to bring down public sector spending, which accounts for about a third of state spending. There's enough anecdotal evidence to raise alarms, such as the 2 143 'suspicious' employees identified at the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) in 2022, more than half of whom 'resigned' when these were investigated under Project Zivese ('Reveal yourself'), an initiative aimed at determining the total number of employees at Prasa. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has now been ordered by President Cyril Ramaphosa to investigate the issue of ghost workers at Prasa, among other offences – including fraudulent insurance claims and the irregular award of tenders for the supply of locomotives to Swifambo Rail Leasing. ActionSA made this a pillar of its election campaign in 2024, saying the public sector was plagued with ghost employees – the worst offenders being Prasa, the Department of Education, and the South African Police Service (SAPS). This was based on research by the party. ALSO READ: Parliamentary 'ghostbusters' target Casper – the unfriendly public service ghost Finding the ghosts … In 2024, the Auditor-General (AG) uncovered R6.4 million in salaries being paid to ghost workers at the Mpumalanga Department of Education. In 2002, the AG flagged more than 60 municipalities with payroll control issues, which suggests the ghost employee issue poisons every tier of government. Msunduzi Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal identified 120 ghost workers in 2021 after 180 employees failed to appear for verification. In 2023, the City of Tshwane found that nearly 500 of workers on its Expanded Public Works Programme could not be verified. The monthly saving once these were eliminated from the payroll was R2 million. But that may not be the end of the problem, after recent claims by the Progressive Civic Congress that Tshwane has more ghost workers on its payroll than all other municipalities. In May the Gauteng health department froze the salaries of 230 employees who could not be verified. This is a small fraction of the 85 000 employed by the department, but the campaign to root out the freeloaders is far from over. ALSO READ: Gauteng health freezes 66 salaries in ghost employee crackdown Salaries for 5 000 non-workers in Public Works Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Dean Macpherson launched a campaign in May to root out ghost workers, more than 5 000 of whom receive salaries but do not work for the department. The department oversees public sector infrastructure programmes and manages state assets, and wants to set the tone for the rest of government in eliminating fraud, including ghost workers. 'We have begun an important audit of our workforce in Public Works and Infrastructure where every employee will have to report to an office to physically verify themselves,' said Macpherson. 'This will help us ensure we only pay employees who are actually working to turn South Africa into a construction site.' ALSO READ: R6 million in salaries paid to ghost workers in Mpumalanga Cleaning house The campaign against ghost workers appears to be getting the attention it deserves. Last week the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), responsible for overseeing more than 1.2 million public sector workers, appeared before parliament to brief the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration on steps it is taking to clean up the pervasive problem of ghost workers on the government payroll. As Corruption Watch reports: 'These non-existent employees draw salaries every month, creating extra pressure on the public purse that it doesn't need. The committee expressed its view that ghost employees also hinder the hiring of new talent and more importantly, undermine public trust.' In April, the Democratic Alliance laid charges of corruption against Minister of Human Settlements Thembi Simelane, who is alleged to have received more than R700 000 from Eskom while employed at Vitrovian, a consulting firm hired to suppress protests at Kusile Power Station during its construction. Simelane, who denies the charges, is claimed to have overbilled Eskom for work performed by ghost employees. The issue of ghost workers was also raised in the latest budget speech by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, promising that government would implement a 'data-driven approach to detecting payroll irregularities [which] will replace the more costly method of using censuses'. This will involve cross-referencing administrative datasets to identify ghost workers and other anomalies across government departments. ALSO READ: National government exorcises Mangaung's ghost workers, corruption Parliament wants naming and shaming Parliament's Portfolio Committee wants ghost employees and officials involved in loading them onto the payroll system to be named and shamed and to face disciplinary action. Its patience with lax HR controls appears to be wearing thin, with the DPSA berated over 'weaknesses in current payroll and human resource management systems in the public sector, which are still primarily paper-based, with internal registers lacking physical or biometric verification'. Perhaps most frustrating for the committee is the lack of statistics on the number of ghost employees. What's needed are hard numbers, names, locations and the financial impact of this fraud. 'The remarks and frustrations voiced by members reflect the urgency and seriousness of the issue, and the DPSA must take them seriously,' said committee chair Jan de Villiers, adding that the credibility of parliamentary oversight depends on results and cannot just be talk shops. What parliament wants is to see that action is being taken against errant officials, including disciplinary and criminal accountability where appropriate. The DPSA says it will conduct a comprehensive audit of the Personnel and Salary (Persal) system, which is used by departments and government entities to capture administrative records for every person appointed. This payroll system requires input from several users with different responsibilities, supposedly making it harder to process ghost salaries. The only way this could be achieved is where all parties are in collusion. ALSO READ: 'It's a scam': Mbalula says Prasa's ghost workers saga to be referred for criminal investigations Windfall for the state purse if addressed Based on the available evidence, there are tens of thousands of ghost workers across the public sector, costing billions of rands a year. The elimination of ghost workers at Prasa alone saved it R200 million. So it's safe to say that a thorough verification of public sector employees will yield a handsome windfall for the fiscus. This has been a key focus of the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed until recently by Elon Musk, which by some reports has identified more than 100 000 ghost employees. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners has reported that ghost employees account for about 8% occupational fraud cases worldwide. Considering the admitted laxity of controls in SA's public sector, we can assume the local figure is way higher than this. Given the expected public wage bill of close to R800 billion in the current fiscal year, which does not include the roughly R85 billion a year in salaries paid to employees of state-owned companies, ridding the country of moochers would be a huge relief to the fiscus. This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
The Citizen
27-05-2025
- The Citizen
Think before you dump: New waste by-law in effect
Think before you dump: New waste by-law in effect Mogale City Local Municipality (MCLM) has officially adopted a revised Waste Management By-Law, which significantly enhances efforts to combat illegal dumping, a problem that damages the environment and costs millions annually to address. • Also read: Is Mogale winning the illegal dumping battle? MCLM communications officer Tendani Shavhani said this updated law introduces a more modern and sustainable waste management approach focused on reducing, reusing, and recycling waste, which will be enforced by three dedicated waste enforcement vehicles and the appointment of full-time by-law officers. Key changes include allowing licensed private contractors to provide waste services under municipal supervision. However, misuse by unlicensed operators has led to rampant illegal dumping, prompting stricter enforcement measures. 'In response, the municipality has introduced an integrated waste management model, promoting collaboration between public and private sectors,' she said. She added that these new initiatives include: • Registration of small-scale waste collectors and buy-back centre operators • Use of Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) workers for operational support • Launch of new vehicles dedicated to by-law enforcement She stated these efforts also support local economic development by helping small businesses and informal waste collectors access recyclable materials more easily. 'In addition, partnerships with Producer Responsibility Organisations are funding community waste minimisation projects. Recycling bins for electronics and other materials have been placed in public spaces like malls and schools. With the by-law now active, enforcement has ramped up. Offenders may face steep fines, vehicle impoundments or jail time. The message is clear: Legal waste disposal options exist and illegal dumping is a deliberate and punishable offence,' she concluded. Residents can report illegal dumping to MCLM through the following communication channels: • Via email at customerservices@ • By sending a WhatsApp to 083 787 2814 • By contacting 086 166 4253 At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
