Local Govt Is Graft Warzone

One of former minister Dr Zweli Mkhize's trending videos on social media is that of him questioning a mayor at Matjhabeng district municipality in the Free State on an item that appears in their budget.

- Sydney Majoko

One of former minister Dr Zweli Mkhize's trending videos on social media is that of him questioning a mayor at Matjhabeng district municipality in the Free State on an item that appears in their budget. The flustered official and the municipality's chief financial officer have no idea why there's an R18 million item titled "Bonuses" on the budget.

It turns out that some stipends that are meant to be R3 100 for officials on the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) turned into 10 times that, R31 000 per month in the pockets of corrupt officials.

The minister in charge of the public works and infrastructure, the DA's Dean Macpherson, promptly suspended funds for the EPWP for the municipality to allow investigations to root out the corruption.

The sad part about the decision is that it is a programme meant to provide employment for mainly unemployed youth and, as a result, the suspension means some deserving individuals will suffer because of the decision aimed at rooting out corruption.