Ghost workers living off taxpayers’ money in the public service

Ghost stories used to be the domain of fiction – entertaining stories with a curious twist. 

Not anymore. 

Hundreds or possibly thousands of South African ghosts – identities that truly exist – are alive and well and living off taxpayers’ money in the public service, according to disturbing revelations from parliament’s public service portfolio committee. 

By inserting ‘ ghost workers’ onto the public service payroll, a matrix of corrupt officials have conspired to defraud the South African fiscus on a massive scale, to the tune of billions. “They exist across all spheres of government,” portfolio committee chairperson Jan de Villiers reportedly told the committee. “Criminal syndicates are 100% operating within government.” 

One haunting example is PRASA, which reportedly spent about R20-million a year on 1000 ghost workers, De Villiers said. 

Ghosts of this kind will come as no surprise to all those familiar with the vagaries of state capture and all it entailed. What is shocking is the scale of the fraud, particularly as it involves collusion across various departments, as confirmed by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). 

Unlike storybook phantoms that generally only bother the living late at night, ghost workers have a direct and continuous impact on the real world in the form of a drain on precious resources. The money they steal certainly disappears, but it exists nevertheless; it should be used for service delivery, not diverted to criminal mafias. 

This problem is a reminder that public service rehabilitation remains one of the country’s biggest challenges. The talkshops, workshops, blueprints and masterplans intended to grow the economy will remain largely ineffectual without a public service that practises what it preaches – public service. 

The Cape Chamber concurs with those calling for a coordinated national response to the latest ghost worker revelation. The National Treasury should urgently conduct a national audit to banish all phantom employees back to the realm of fiction. 

Effective rehabilitation of the public service will give ghoulish ghost story a happy ending of real-life jobs and economic growth.

John Lawson
CEO of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry