07 December 2015 - NW3978

Lovemore, Ms AT to ask the Minister of Public Service and Administration

(1)(a) How were the reported 36 000 ghost workers detected in the North West, (b) what is the extent of the financial loss to the specified provincial government as a result of this fraud, (c) who benefitted from the salaries being paid to these workers and (d) what action has been taken as a result of this discovery, including any appropriate disciplinary actions; (2) whether measures to detect the existence of ghost workers in each national and provincial department (a) have been or (b) will be implemented in this regard; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details in each case?

Source
Link

Reply:

(a) As part of an exercise undertaken by the North West Office of the Premier to determine the cost drivers of the wage bill in the Province, misinterpretation of employee information lead to the reports in the media about the 36 000 ghost workers in the Province. After realisation of this misunderstanding the Director-General of the North West Office of the Premier, Dr Keneilwe Sebego issued a media statement, early in November 2015, indicating that there were no ghost workers in North West, but that non-permanent type of appointments were erroneously labelled as ghost workers. This was also officially confirmed in a letter, dated 13 November 2015, addressed to the Director-General of the DPSA in response to enquiries made to the North West Office of the Premier.

(b) Taking the information in (a) above into consideration, there was no fraud or financial loss in the North West Provincial Administration since the payments made to these non-permanent type of appointments were made legitimately.

(c) The non-permanent appointees themselves benefited from the salaries legitimately paid to them.

(d) The DPSA is not aware of any disciplinary action taken as a result of the misunderstanding. The Office of the Premier in North West indicated that it will continue to monitor appointments in the Provincial Administration.

(2) The management and employment of public servants at national and provincial level are managed through a decentralized Human Resource Management framework where Heads of Department and Executive Authorities are responsible for the employment and management of their own employees. Departments’ employee numbers and payroll fall under the purview of the respective Executive Authorities and are audited by the Auditor-General.

(a) The Public Finance Management Act, 1999; Treasury Regulations and other legal prescripts contain provisions to deal with monitoring of payments to employees in the Public Service. Fraud and non-compliance to these measures are managed through the disciplinary processes in the Public Service.

(b) See the reply to (a) above.

Source file

RNW3978-151207.docx