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The Chairperson of the Select Committee on Public Infrastructure and Minister in the Presidency, Mr Rikus Badenhorst, said the decision by Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Dean Macpherson to take Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) recruitment onto the SA Youth Mobi platform represents an important shift in how government should create opportunities for unemployed South Africans.

Mr Badenhorst said that for too long allegations of political gatekeeping, patronage and abuse in the allocation of opportunities have been made against the EPWP. The Minister's nationwide EPWP listening tours heard these concerns directly. The answer cannot be another policy document. It must be reform that changes how the programme actually works.

Digitising recruitment begins doing exactly that. By making opportunities visible and applying rules-based matching according to factors such as location, education and eligibility, the space for the politically connected middleman deciding who gets an opportunity and who does not is reduced.

Importantly, the SA Youth Mobi platform is zero-rated, meaning unemployed young people do not require airtime or data to access it. That matters in a country where the cost of simply looking for work can itself become a barrier.

But the more significant reform is what Minister Macpherson is trying to achieve through Working on Infrastructure. EPWP cannot remain a revolving door where people enter a short-term programme, perform temporary work and emerge no more employable than when they started.

Working on Infrastructure seeks to change that model through longer-duration participation, practical infrastructure repair and maintenance experience, mentorship, training, certification and pathways towards recognised occupational opportunities and ultimately permanent employment.

Mr Badenhorst welcomes this direction. “South Africa does not need government programmes that simply improve participation statistics. We need programmes that improve people's prospects,” he said.

Parliamentary oversight will take place over implementation, accessibility and whether these promised pathways actually translate into sustainable employment. Reform must be measured by results.

But the principle is correct: remove political discretion, open access, teach marketable skills and give participants a genuine pathway beyond EPWP, Mr Badehorst said.

“Minister Macpherson is demonstrating that public employment programmes can be reformed rather than simply defended. Government should not merely give somebody a temporary job. It should give them the skills and opportunity to build a future.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.

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The Select Committee on Agriculture Land Reform and Mineral Resources said Sogima Mining has complied with the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources' requirements. However, Sogima remains unable to resume its mining activities.

The committee expressed this view during the last day of its oversight visit. It met with Sogima Mining, the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR), the North West Department of Human Settlements, the Housing Development Agency and Madibeng Local Municipality.

Committee Chairperson Mr Mpho Modise said when the committee adjourned its meeting the previous day, there was an agreement that the DMPR and Sogima Mining would meet and report back with a possible solution and way forward to bring the matter to finality.

“To be honest when we concluded yesterday's meeting, I felt that we had made significant progress. In my assessment, we had addressed approximately 60% of the issues and were moving steadily towards a resolution. Today, however, having heard the report presented to us, I feel that we have moved backwards rather than forward.”

The committee noted with concern the DMPR's proposal for another meeting with the 46 community members who objected to Sogima Mining's activities. The proposed meeting would include relevant stakeholders and record the reasons for the objections and concerns about relocation. Members questioned whether another meeting would help resolve a matter that has been outstanding for several years.

Members were concerned that relocation issues continue to dominate discussions and delay economic development and job opportunities in the area. The committee said the government cannot allow economic development, job creation and poverty alleviation to be blocked before a mining company can operate. Government must take responsibility for matters that fall within its mandate.

Members questioned why the company continues to go through repeated processes after meeting previous requirements. The committee heard that Sogima Mining had held consultations, redesigned its blasting method, repaired damage caused by earlier blasting and prepared legal agreements, as requested by the department. The company said it had spent substantial amounts over the years to meet these requirements.

The committee expressed concern that the DMPR appeared to move the company from one process to another without finalising the matter. Members said each time a requirement was met another one appeared to follow.

During the discussions, members raised the difference between consultation and agreement. The committee said the law requires consultation and not unanimous agreement. It warned that a mining project should not be delayed indefinitely when lawful consultation has taken place.

Members asked how the DMPR has dealt with similar cases in other mining communities where there are different views. They also asked whether the approach in the Sogima Mining matter is consistent with approaches used elsewhere in the mining sector.

The committee questioned the need for another meeting with community members who object to blasting when extensive consultations had already taken place. Members advised that repeating consultation could reopen issues that had already been addressed and delay the matter further.

The committee was told that Sogima Mining had consulted 106 households in the affected area. Of these, 46 objected and said relocation should take place first. Members questioned the difference between these figures and earlier presentations, which indicated that more than 200 households could be affected by relocation.

The committee said failures in planning and coordination by government should not result in one mining company carrying the burden of past decisions made by different authorities. Members said Sogima Mining should not carry the full financial burden of relocating a community from an area where settlement should not have been allowed.

The Chairperson expressed disappointment that several reports requested by the committee during the March oversight visit had still not been submitted. Mr Modise said only Sogima Mining had submitted the requested information. Reports from other government departments still remain outstanding.

In its final deliberations, the committee resolved that the DMPR, Sogima Mining and relevant stakeholders should proceed with the scheduled meeting on 18 August 2026. The committee said it expects the meeting to finalise all outstanding issues so that the company can find a way to resume mining operations. The committee requested that a report on the outcome of the meeting be submitted immediately after the engagement.

Mr Modise said the committee will meet after receiving the report to assess the outcome and decide on the next steps. If satisfactory progress is not made, the committee will consider other avenues to bring the matter to a conclusion with the assistance of Parliament's legal department.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.

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The Portfolio Committee on Small Business Development welcomes the stringent internal controls and due diligence measures implemented by the Department of Small Business Development and the Small Enterprise Development Finance Agency (SEDFA) to ensure that the Spaza Shop Support Fund reaches its intended beneficiaries: qualifying South African citizens operating legitimate spaza shop businesses.

This follows the committee's engagement with the department and SEDFA on 12 August 2026 about the allegations that the Spaza Shop Support Fund had been disbursed to spaza shops operated by foreign nationals through South African fronts.

The committee Chairperson, Ms Masefako Dikgale, said the committee was encouraged by the assurance that applications are subjected to stringent verification processes before any funds are disbursed.

She said: “The committee welcomes the robust internal controls put in place by the department and SEDFA to protect public funds and ensure that the Spaza Shop Support Fund benefits the South Africans it was established to support. Where an application reveals an operator mismatch or other indicators of fraud, that application must not proceed to disbursement.”

The committee's engagement with department and SEDFA follows the Public Protector's announcement on 17 July 2026 that her office had issued a Section 7(9) notice from a systemic investigation into food-safety regulation and enforcement at spaza shops and other informal food businesses in Gauteng.

The investigation identified verified cases of business fronting, beneficiary mismatches, fraud and misrepresentation, including instances where South Africans were registered as licence holders or beneficiaries while foreign nationals operated the businesses. These findings formed the basis for allegations by members of the public that some funding from the Spaza Shop Support Fund may have reached spaza shops operated by foreign nationals.

Ms Dikgale said the committee regarded the allegations seriously, particularly because the fund is intended to support qualifying South African-owned and operated businesses.

The department informed the committee that its internal due diligence processes had successfully identified and flagged operator mismatches and other fraudulent applications before payment. As a result, no financial disbursements were made in respect of the fraudulent applications identified through the verification process.

According to the department, as at 31 July 2026, a total of 930 disbursements had been made, amounting to approximately R57 million. The department further assured the committee that no single disbursement had been made to a spaza shop owned by a foreign national.

The committee commends the department and SEDFA for strengthening verification mechanisms and expects these controls to remain firmly in place throughout the implementation of the Fund. Ms Dikgale said the committee would continue exercising parliamentary oversight to ensure that the fund achieves its intended objectives.

“We will continue to exercise oversight over the department and SEDFA to ensure that every rand intended for qualifying South African entrepreneurs is protected and accounted for. Support must reach genuine beneficiaries, not fraudulent fronts. The committee will remain vigilant against any attempt to circumvent the rules or defraud the state,” she said.

The committee encourages members of the public and small-business stakeholders to report suspected fraud, fronting or misrepresentation through the appropriate channels. It further calls on all beneficiaries and applicants to comply fully with the Fund's requirements and to provide truthful information during the application and verification processes.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.

The Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Nomalungelo Gina, has welcomed the launch of South Africa's locally developed IRIS AI Humanoid Tutor manufacturing plant and showroom at Dube TradePort in Durban, saying the initiative has the potential to create jobs while transforming teaching and learning.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, Republic of South Africa.

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