The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education is set to embark on a comprehensive employee verification process to ensure that only legitimate employees are being paid through the department's persal systems.
Education MEC Sipho Hlomuka said the initiative follows incidents where salaries continued to be paid long after the employees have exited the department due to retirement, resignation, or death, as a result of delays in administrative terminations.
"Upon identifying these discrepancies, the department engaged the Provincial Treasury to assist with the necessary IT infrastructure to facilitate the large-scale verification exercise, and to ensure the quality and integrity of the process.
Initially launched by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, the verification programme has since been adopted as a national programme by the Department of Basic Education.
Keep up with the latest headlines on WhatsApp | LinkedIn
The programme is expected to be implemented across the country under the leadership of the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC).
Hlomuka welcomed the national support, noting that the approach will help standardise processes across the education sector.
"The outcomes of the verification will guide future policy decisions and preventative measures. We are confident that the verification process will enhance transparency, accountability, and good governance," Hlomuka said.
The MEC also called for the full cooperation from all department employees to ensure the success of the initiative. Further details of the verification process are expected to be communicated in due course.
SADTU welcomes nationwide probe
The South African Democratic Teachers' Union (SADTU) has welcomed the Education Labour Relations Council's (ELRC) appointment to lead a verification process.
SADTU warned that ghost workers are not just an administrative hiccup; but "they represent orchestrated criminal syndicates that siphon scarce public resources into private pockets."
"Every phantom name on the payroll diverts funds away from real educators and learners, starving classrooms of materials, crippling learner support programmes, and undermining hard won gains in educational equity. The syndicates steal the future of our nation," SADTU General Secretary, Dr Mugwena Maluleke said.
The union also linked ghost appointments to the illicit selling of teaching posts, which further erodes professionalism and merit.
"When positions are sold to the highest bidder, capable educators are shut out, morale plummets, and our collective mission to deliver quality public education is compromised.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"These linked practices, ghost workers and selling posts form a network of corruption that inflicts harm on our most vulnerable children and erodes the foundations of democracy in our schools.," Maluleke said.
SADTU also supported the ELRC's dual approach of physical verification and forensic audit.
"Physical verification ensures every individual on the payroll is present, teaching, working and accountable. Forensic investigation will trace the financial flows that benefit these criminal networks.
"As champions of transformative education, we cannot tolerate counterrevolutionaries who steal from learners' futures. We support the ELRC's mandate because integrity in our profession is non-negotiable," the General Secretary said.
