Collen Mashawana, founder and chairman of the Collen Mashawana Foundation. | Tebogo Malaka, suspended IDT CEO.(Photo: IDT) | Austin Mashawana during an interview at the Collen Mashawana Foundation’s Rivonia offices in June. (Photo: Pieter-Louis Myburgh) 
The Collen Mashawana Foundation (CMF), the non-profit at the heart of Daily Maverick’s series of investigations into the Independent Development Trust (IDT) and its former CEO, Tebogo Malaka, has decided to withdraw from the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) contract it had with the IDT.
This comes after Daily Maverick’s recent exposé detailing alleged signature fraud in documents the CMF submitted to the IDT. The documents were submitted to release payments from the IDT.
Businessman Collen Mashawana’s namesake foundation was appointed in 2024 to manage EPWP initiatives in Limpopo, the Free State, North West, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, at a cost of R60-million.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Stack-copy.jpg "Daily Maverick asked several EPWP participants to sign next to their purported signatures on documents the Collen Mashawana Foundation submitted to the IDT. The differences between the real and allegedly forged signatures were obvious.")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Hand-signature9.jpeg "March 2025 Attendance Reg - Multiple signatures by one writer.")
Daily Maverick in August revealed that scores of EPWP workers in the Free State were allegedly ripped off by the CMF. This, while we linked Mashawana to former IDT CEO Tebogo Malaka via a dodgy property project in one of Gauteng’s most sought-after residential estates. Malaka, now suspended, ran the IDT when Mashawana’s foundation clinched the EPWP contract.
In Daily Maverick’s widely-publicised video “sting” exposé, in which Malaka and the IDT’s spokesperson tried to bribe this journalist, Malaka can be heard saying that she could facilitate a meeting with Mashawana.
Our latest investigative reports detailed how EPWP workers in Limpopo were allegedly also short-changed or ripped off by Mashawana’s foundation. What’s more, our investigation suggested that the foundation had allegedly forged scores of EPWP workers’ signatures in order to unlock payments from the IDT, monies that were not paid to the workers.
Read more: Forensic experts find massive ‘signatures fraud’ in Collen Mashawana Foundation’s IDT documents
A leading forensics firm that specialises in signature fraud assessed some of the CMF’s EPWP documentation and confirmed that large batches of workers’ signatures had likely been forged.
The IDT on Friday confirmed that Mashawana’s foundation had decided to withdraw from its EPWP contract.
In a statement signed by the IDT’s acting CEO, Sfiso Nsibande, the state-owned body indicated that it had sought answers from the CMF following Daily Maverick’s latest investigative work.
Instead of furnishing the IDT with the requested documents and information, the CMF instead opted to withdraw from its participation in the EPWP scheme.
The IDT had asked the foundation to provide a detailed written response on the allegations of forged signatures on attendance registers, payment sheets and specimen documents, as detailed in Daily Maverick’s latest IDT reportage.
The IDT also demanded answers from the CMF in terms of its “compliance with contractual obligations for stipend disbursement” in the wake of our revelations that many EPWP workers had not received their rightful salaries.
But Mashawana’s foundation ultimately decided not to comply with the IDT’s requests and instead withdrew from the contract.
“CMF later notified the IDT of its decision to withdraw from the programme with effect from 1 December 2025 citing reputational considerations. The IDT has acknowledged the withdrawal and will ensure that the transition does not disrupt service delivery to EPWP participants,” reads the IDT’s statement.
Read more: IDT vows to probe Collen Mashawana Foundation’s ‘signatures fraud’
The IDT says the latest development will not affect its ongoing probes into the CMF and other non-profits’ EPWP contracts.
“The IDT will continue with the independent forensic review currently underway. This review seeks to verify the authenticity of documents submitted by CMF, assess compliance with contractual obligations and determine whether any irregularities occurred during the implementation of the EPWP programme.”
The Collen Mashawana Foundation and its founder are also currently being investigated by the Hawks following Daily Maverick’s reports on a property being built for Malaka inside the Waterfall Country Estate. Our report detailed cash flows from Mashawana-linked entities to contractors working on Malaka’s new house. The payments were effected within the very same period in which the IDT transferred the EPWP workers’ salaries to Mashawana’s charitable foundation. DM