11 June 2025

The ANC Study Group on Public Service and Administration is saddened by the revelation of the corruption in the form of “ghost workers” happening in the public sector. This scourge is a reflection of how much we need to urgently address the professionalisation of the public service to ensure that people in the employ of the state are ethical, have capacity and integrity.

When such fraud happens in the public service it leads to resource constraints and most importantly it has a huge impact on service delivery to the people of South Africa.

Faced with slow economic growth and the triple challenges that the government has been working hard to deal with in our country, we cannot afford to drop the ball. While we have trust in the systems and laws we have established, including the stringent persal system, it is clear that there are those who are committed to take us aback. Within the public service, there are strong systems of verification of employee status and the signing of payroll certification sheets. Moreover, the Auditor-General conducts periodic audits to assess compliance with these controls, but all these measures are not sufficient to mitigate and alleviate fraudulent practices on the public purse.

The issue of ghost workers cannot be viewed as a complex matter if these systems we have are working and are applied in the public service, which we believe they are. We need the department of Public Service and Administration to do a thorough investigation to ascertain the people of South Africa where this scourge is found, whether in the national government, provincial government or local government. This fact finding mission is important to help us know where to tighten regulations.

As committed in the previous administration and by the President in his State of the Nation Address, the ANC is committed to the ideal of building an ethical, capable, developmental state underpinned by strong ethical behaviour of public servants. In light of this, the process of modernising Human Resource Management Systems in the Public Sector is under way. An overall e-Government plan is being implemented. We have introduced the Public Service Commission Bill, which is aimed at empowering the Public Service Commission to municipalities with more powers to create a single public service.

We are confident that with these measures already existing and the reforms the ANC government has introduced, the issue of ghost workers will become the past. We call on all structures of society, all public servants to serve the state with integrity to uphold the values of public service. Laws and regulations alone cannot solve fraud and corruption but the commitment to serve the people will always override individual desires.

Issued by the Whip of the ANC Study Group on Public Service and Administration, Cde P Xaba-Ntshaba

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