In Conversation With Tebogo Mashilompane (FOSA national leader)

The Forum for South Africa (FOSA) has strongly criticised the Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, following his recent decision to suspend funding for the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in light of allegations of inflated salaries benefiting politically connected individuals.
FOSA has condemned the decision as inconsiderate and harmful, stating that the suspension unfairly impacts innocent beneficiaries of the programme who rely on it for basic income support. According to FOSA, addressing corruption within the programme should not come at the expense of those who are not implicated.
“The decision to halt EPWP funding does not just punish the guilty — it directly harms those who are struggling to survive in a context of high unemployment and poverty, especially among black South Africans,” the organisation said in a statement.
FOSA argued that while senior officials under investigation often remain on full pay, vulnerable EPWP workers are being cut off from their only source of income. “This approach lacks empathy and demonstrates a failure to understand the lived realities of poverty,” FOSA stated.