Technical glitch delays North West EPWP payments

Payments were not made because of the unavailability of the Personnel and Salary System (Persal) due to a crash in the Provincial Information Technology system, the North West Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport says.

The GCIS reported that acting spokesperson of the North West government, Moses Lesiba Kgwele, said the crash was reportedly caused by constant power failure in Mmabatho and affected not only affect EPWP employees, but also other public servants employed by the provincial government. Lesiba Kgwele said the provincial government sympathised with the EPWP employees who did not receive their stipends on time and appealed for calm as the matter was "being investigated at the highest level".

Acting MEC for the Department Raymond Elisha has assured Premier Thandi Modise that the first batch of payments would be deposited today (2 February) and the last batch would be processed on Monday, 6 February. "As per agreement reached between the employees and the Acting Head of the Department, Andrew Kyereh in December, every effort is being made to pay half of the claims [...] while balances are to be settled as soon as audits are completed," Elisha said.

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