Gauteng’s new biometric identification system for the

Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) has gone

live at the Helen Joseph Hospital, in Johannesburg,

kicking off the first part of a province-wide deployment.

The cutting edge biometric and facial recognition system is

expected, over the next three months, to overhaul the way Gauteng

runs government’s critical poverty alleviation programme.

The aim is to eliminate corruption, which is hampering the efficient

administration of the programme, with the preceding manual

system used to enrol workers and track time worked, open to

widespread abuse, explained Gauteng Infrastructure Development

MEC Jacob Mamabolo.

The ATM-style kiosks, fitted with the latest face recognition and

fingerprint technology, will biometrically verify the identity of

every EPWP beneficiary, record their attendance on site and the

hours worked � and generate payment reports.

Every beneficiary will now be required to clock-in and clock-out

through the biometric identification terminals, and this will bring

complete transparency, he said, pointing out that it will also assist

EPWP workers to be clear about how much is due to them at the

end of the month.

Mamabolo described the terminals as ATMs where the workers

deposit hours with the option of requesting electronic printouts

showing their banked hours.

This also eliminates ghost workers using false identification

documents to register and the practice of duplicate beneficiaries

where people fraudulently register at multiple sites.

All these loopholes are now closed because our biometric system

conducts data verification to pick up duplicate beneficiaries and

ensures that every person who is enrolled is not only a South

African citizen but meets all the other EPWP requirements, he

concluded.

Source: Department of Public Works