Government's expanded public works programme (EPWP) benefits those with political connections, not the poor, Democratic Alliance (DA) Member of Parliament (MP) James Masango said on Wednesday.

Speaking in the National Assembly during debate on the public works budget vote, Masango highlighted a number of problems in the department.

The department would be responsible for creating 500 000 jobs by December, he said.

"Now, we need to know how and where those jobs are going to be created.

"It is important that we create more jobs in our country. It is crucial that most jobless South Africans gain employment.

"But from my experience, and from what I have seen in my area, it is not the poor that get jobs, but those with political connections," Masango said.

"Minister, at council level we have ward councillors who take control of all jobs created in their ward.

"Once there is a project to be implemented in his area, they take personal charge of employing people. And that's where the problem starts, because only the family members and connections are employed," he said.

Turning to the Council for the Built Environment, he said it had indicated that one of the key challenges was funding and that some councils were operating from the streets.

"I agree with them that this remains a critical matter to address.

"Further to that, every entity of government must take responsibility in managing their allocated funds.

"We cannot allow an ongoing situation where internal controls are ignored, monitoring is nonexistent, and noncompliance to Treasury regulations and the Public Finance Management Act is commonplace," Masango said.

Special attention also had to be given to the wasteful spending highlighted by reports from the Auditor-General.

"There are officials who are enriching themselves, and they must be investigated, and if necessary arrested and prosecuted," he said.