The criminal mafia being paid every month by South African taxpayers

Mafia-style corruption syndicates have infiltrated various levels of government to create ‘ghost workers’ who receive monthly salaries funded by South African taxpayers.

However, there are calls from parliament to do a nationwide audit where public sector workers should report in person to prove they’re not ghost employees.

This comes from Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, which stressed that every person drawing a public salary must appear in person and be verified.

The committee chairperson, Jan de Villiers, has raised alarm over the deep-rooted and organised criminal syndicates operating within the public service.

Criminal syndicates have infiltrated all three spheres of government, including departments, agencies, and state-owned entities.

This has led to widespread problems with so-called “ghost workers”, fictitious names on the government’s payroll who draw salaries and wages at significant cost to the fiscus.

While our country battles severe unemployment and understaffed public facilities, the government is paying ghosts a fortune in salaries.

Investigations by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) have revealed a widespread practice of using taxpayers’ money to pay salaries for workers who do not exist.

The Gauteng Department of Health allegedly paid around R6.4 million to 230 ghost workers, while PRASA has reportedly spent around R20 million a year paying 1000 workers that no one has ever seen.

“We can safely assume there are thousands of ghost workers that have not been discovered. They exist across all spheres of government,” said De Villiers. 

“The one example of the 230 people in the Gauteng Health Department just points to hw widespread the issue has become,” he said 

“Another one that was just discovered was about R6.5 million worth of ghost employee salaries being paid in the Department of Education in Mpumalanga.”

De Villiers added that these incidents are not isolated or accidental, but rather “little samples of the real problem.” 

He said these ghost worker schemes are symptomatic of a broader, systemic rot within the public sector. 

People need to serve jail time 

He explained that at least three people within the system must collude to create a ghost worker. “Criminal syndicates are 100% operating inside government.”

What makes these frauds possible is the extensive collusion across departments. “These people are being created by at least three people who verify the loading of this false information onto the system,” De Villiers said. 

“You need department heads, you need HR managers, you need people who work with the finances. You need many people to work together to keep this scheme going.” 

To address the problem, De Villiers stressed the need for a coordinated national response. 

“What is needed now is a national audit conducted by the National Treasury and the Department of Public Service, as well as being supported by the Auditor-General,” he said. 

“This needs to be done urgently so that we can start setting standards on how to find and identify these ghost workers,” he said. 

But he warned that rooting out these nonexistent employees is not enough. “We must see people being investigated, and we must see people going to jail. There must be consequences.”

He made it clear that allowing such practices to continue unchecked would only embolden the perpetrators. 

“If for years it’s not been exposed and nobody has been sent to jail, nobody convicted of this practice, then people are just going to increase the practice.”

De Villiers stressed that the issue must be addressed as part of a broader effort to reform the public service. 

“One of the statements of intent of the government of national unity is that we must professionalise the state service,” he said. 

“Professionalising the state service means that we have to absolutely these ghost workers and get rid of the people behind the ghost workers. We must stop the systemic corruption in the state.”