PSC commissioner Errol Magerman accepts the MOD from Team Fix SA public service member Mpumi Edward and ActionSA Tshwane caucus leader Jackie Mathabathe. Photograph: Supplied by ActionSA
State-owned entities (SOEs) need to be purged of “ghost workers” if South Africa is to have any hopes of addressing the staggering public sector wage bill currently consuming 34.7% of government expenditure.
It was with this in mind that ActionSA’s Team Fix SA members Mpumi Edward and Sello Lediga delivered a Memorandum of Demands to the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) offices in Pretoria earlier on Thursday.
Edward said through the party’s own research, backed by reliable sources, they had exposed that several departments were plagued by ‘ghost workers’ with the worst affected being the Department of Education (DoE), the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), and the South African Police Service (SAPS).
She further explained that it was on the drop of this information that the party had pleaded with Public Service and Administration Minister Noxolo Kiviet on March 26, calling for an investigation into “ghost workers” within the Department of Basic Education.
Despite this appeal, nothing of the sort was looked into by the minister even though the department employs over 450 000 people which made it vulnerable to rogue elements.
Remaining undeterred, Edward said when they further expanded their investigation to other departments and SOEs, they uncovered that in 2022, there were 17 268 recorded Prasa employees, however, there were 3 000 “ghost employees” through Project Zivese, with 1159 resignations.
“It is alarming that South Africa spends 34.7% of its national budget on public sector wages, yet our state institutions fail to fulfil their basic mandates. It is worth noting that South Africa's wage bill is one of the highest in the world and in our quest to assist in reducing the public sector wage bill, we strongly believe that this cannot be achieved if the government departments and SOEs continue paying salaries to ghost employees.”
She added: “We demand that the commission conducts thorough investigations across all government departments and entities, focusing on the Department of Education, SAPS, and PRASA. Those found guilty must face the full might of the law. A vigorous audit, not limited to headcount, to ascertain the number of employees that departments have as of March 2024 should be a point of departure for these investigations.”
PSC Commissioner Errol Magerman accepted the MOD, however, he informed the party that 10 days was not sufficient to investigate all the matters raised, and they would be able to report back on how the work would continue.
Magerman added that PRASA was not part of the commission’s jurisdiction.
The Star
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