Teboho Setena
The fraudulence of “ghost workers” within the Free State government departments is a reality that Moses Makume, MEC for Finance, Tourism and Economic Development, pledged to tackle during the delivery of his departmental budget vote on 15 April. He said the provincial Treasury and the premier’s office would spearhead the verification of staff through a campaign themed “Where’s Who, Who’s Where?”
Makume said to address the persistent issue of staff verification, the provincial Treasury is mandated to manage and maintain the Persal system – an integrated human resource, personnel, and salary system – within the province.
He said as part of the mandate, the Treasury provides technical support across all transversal systems and continues to build capacity within provincial departments to ensure these systems are used effectively and efficiently.
“To help departments align their personnel compensation budgets with the actual staffing reflected on the Persal system, the Treasury has committed to assisting with the implementation of head count exercises. This strategy is a critical tool to ensure that personnel budgets correspond with verified staffing structures, enabling departments to plan and make decisions based on accurate and reliable workforce data.
This initiative aims to accurately verify the placement and existence of personnel across the provincial administration, to identify and significantly reduce the number of possible ghost employees, thereby promoting efficiency, accountability, and the prudent use of public resources, said Makume.
The provincial Department of Health has since emerged as the “fertile ground” for ghost workers who were fraudulently placed on the department’s payroll. Following this discovery in March last year, the department immediately suspended at least 4 civil servants, 3 human resource (HR) officials, and 1 administration clerk.
The department’s initial findings revealed that three such ghost workers were all fictitiously appointed as medical interns.
Subsequently, the department opened a fraud case with the police, which was handed to the Bloemfontein Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team for further probing.
