More than R6 million paid to ghost employees by Mpumalanga Education Dept

Mpumalanga

Cape Town — The Mpumalanga Department of Education has paid out more than R6 million in irregular expenditure to ghost employees and experts have called for their arrest.

During a recent Auditor-General’s (AG) report, the payment scandal was revealed, while the Department’s annual report also unearthed that R6 408 775 in salaries were paid to employees that had either died or were no longer employed in the Department, The Citizen reported.

“Some officials in the department failed to ensure the department’s financial management and internal control systems are carried out within their areas of responsibility and in line with Section 45(a) of the Public Finance Management Act,” the document read.

The officials failed to notify human resources to stop salaries being paid out and as a result, the payments were made to people who were not supposed to be paid. The overpayments were disclosed as part of the receivables in note 11 of the financial statements.

“The overpayments are likely to result in a material financial loss for the department if the money is not recovered. The accounting officer was notified of the irregularity on 29 September 2022,” the document read.

According to many experts, the Department was responsible for getting to the bottom of this issue and believed it wanted the issue to look like a mistake instead of intentional corruption.

“I call for criminal investigations into the recipients and the human resources officials responsible for the payment authorisations. The amount of R6.4 million in a year is a lot of money,” former standing committee on public accounts chair and member of parliament Themba Godi said.

He added that Mpumalanga has a bad reputation for being corrupt and this issue was not a surprise.

ALSO READ | SA’s coal workers face an uncertain future – Mpumalanga study flags they’re being left out of the green transition

Political analyst, Dr Ntsikelelo Breakfast held the same view as Godi and said it was not a mistake, but a culture of institutionalising corruption.

“There should be serious consequences for those breaking the law. Investigating and releasing a report and taking no action will not assist in fighting corruption,” he said. He said those found guilty must be punished in a manner that would deter those who were planning similar crimes.

According to a statement, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said it would write to the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) to request it investigate the Accounting Officers in Mpumalanga.

“The Democratic Alliance wants the SIU to investigate the Head of the Department (HOD), Lucy Moyane, for these payments to the deceased and terminated employees as it is mentioned in the department’s own Annual Report that “The Accounting Officer (which is the HOD) was notified of the material irregularity on 29 September 2022,” the DA’s Annerie Weber said.

The DA said Moyane must be responsible for the payments to the ghost employees as the irregularities date back as 2022 she did nothing about the situation.

The DA wants the SIU to determine who the deceased and terminated employees are who are still receiving salaries, who authorised the salaries and what method of payment is being used as Banks usually close deceased accounts.

“The DA also calls on department MEC, Cathy Dlamini, to institute her internal investigation on this matter. Surely, someone needs to account for the overpayment of taxpayer’s money.” Weber concluded.

Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Picture: Unsplash

For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com

Compiled by Matthew Petersen

Article written by