The country’s public service may be losing more than R3.9bn annually to ghost employees, based on a 1% compromise rate across the state’s 1.3-million payroll.
The figure, presented to parliament on Wednesday, reflects the scale of systemic fraud now under investigation by the National Treasury, the department of public service & administration (DPSA) and the auditor-general SA (AGSA).
Briefings to the portfolio committee on public service & administration confirmed ghost employees’ fraudulent entries on government payrolls are present across all three spheres of government.
These ghosts include fictitious people, no-show employees and family members added to payroll systems to divert salaries. Treasury’s data tests flagged multiple anomalies: duplicate personnel & salary (Persal) profiles, salaries paid to minors and individuals drawing basic allowances from more than one department.
National Treasury has launched a cross-system audit using data sets from Sars, the department of home affairs (DHA), Emis (education management information system), and Hetmis (higher education management information system).
The initiative applies anomaly detection to reduce the verification burden and target high-risk cases. A two-month window will be provided for flagged individuals to verify their employment status.
Legal authority for data sharing is derived from the Public Finance Management Act and the Tax Administration Act. A memorandum of understanding is being finalised with Sars, and biometric verification protocols are under development with DHA.
The DPSA confirmed a binding circular was issued on September 8 requiring all departments to conduct full physical verification of every person on payroll, including interns, board members and traditional leaders. Departments must submit consolidated reports by February 28 2026.
Departments that fail to comply will be referred to the committee for consequence management. Pension contributions made to ghost employees will be clawed back from the Government Employees Pension Fund.
The AGSA’s briefing focused on a material irregularity in the Mpumalanga department of education, where salary overpayments continued after employee terminations due to death, retirement or resignation.
The department disclosed R28.2m in impairments, with R6.6m deemed recoverable. The AGSA attributed the losses to weak internal controls and delayed documentation. Despite the appointment of a service provider in February, only two of four district-level reports had been completed by September 12, and none had been adopted by the accounting officer.
The irregularity is now being re-evaluated and may trigger binding recommendations or referral to an investigative body under the Public Audit Act.
The committee heard similar patterns have emerged in Gauteng, where 230 unverifiable employees had their salaries frozen, and at Prasa, where 3,000 ghost workers were flagged. The Public Servants Association warned early retirement schemes may be used to discreetly remove ghost employees from payrolls, while corrupt officials cash out on pension benefits.
The combined assurance model of Treasury for financial integrity, DPSA for HR governance and AGSA for external audit was presented as a mechanism to restore public trust. But MPs raised concerns about enforcement delays and the risk of prescription.
Whether these interventions will yield measurable improvements in payroll integrity and fiscal discipline will depend on timely implementation, interdepartmental co-ordination and sustained parliamentary scrutiny.
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