The department of public works is losing more than R14m in payments to ghost workers, with the bulk of them being made from its regional office in Durban.
At the same time, public works & infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson has reported to parliament that there had been significant pushback to his efforts to clean up the scandal-ridden department, with some senior officials refusing to subject themselves to lifestyle audits.
Macpherson unveiled the state of affairs at the department while presenting his budget vote in parliament on Wednesday.
On Friday he told the Sunday Times some high-ranking officials had even resigned from the department instead of undergoing lifestyle audits conducted by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
These individuals included top officials handling the department’s R7bn budget who work in “high-risk divisions” such as finance, supply chain management, and the property management trading entity (PMTE). The PMTE manages property leases on behalf of government departments to the tune of billions annually.
Macpherson — speaking through the department’s spokesperson, Lennox Mabaso — said he had now instructed the department’s director-general, Sifiso Mdakane, to take disciplinary action against defiant officials.
The department has recommended that the remuneration of the 41 unaccounted-for officials be frozen, pending the finalisation of verification and disciplinary processes
— Lennox Mabaso, department spokesperson
“A total of 69 participants were referred for lifestyle audits as part of the second phase of the audit programme. According to the latest SIU progress report, 53 participants submitted a complete set of documents, six participants made partial submissions, one participant was fully non-compliant and non-responsive, and one non-compliant participant resigned during the audit period,” said Mabaso.
“Minister Macpherson has made it clear that any refusal or failure to comply with a lawful lifestyle audit process is unacceptable. At the beginning of May, the minister wrote to the director-general directing him to take immediate control of the matter and issue a formal directive to all affected officials requiring [their] full compliance with all lawful and reasonable requests made by the SIU.”
“Should any official fail to comply within the stipulated time frame, disciplinary proceedings must be instituted, as non-compliance in this context constitutes serious misconduct and insubordination of an accounting officer’s directive.
“The department will not tolerate any attempt to frustrate lifestyle audits. Honest public servants have nothing to fear from accountability, especially in a department responsible for billions of rands in assets, leases, infrastructure projects and procurement,” Mabaso added.
Turning to the ghost-worker phenomenon, which has been identified as one of the “clean-up priorities” of the government of national unity (GNU), Mabaso said they were at least 60 officials who could not be accounted for following a payroll verification process.
Some 41 of those were traced to the department’s regional office in Durban.
“Furthermore, two former employees were identified as having been remunerated by the department despite no longer being in the department’s employ, and the remaining 41 officials either failed to present themselves for physical verification or failed to provide acceptable documentation to confirm their employment status.
“The department is currently exposed to a potential financial loss of approximately R14.718 million annually arising from these cases. This figure remains subject to final validation and further investigation.”
Mabaso further indicated they had now moved to freeze the salaries of the 41 Durban ghost workers.
He also said they were considering pursuing legal remedies to claw back the irregularly paid monies.
“The department has recommended that the remuneration of the 41 unaccounted-for officials be frozen, pending the finalisation of verification and disciplinary processes.
“Where payments were made to persons not entitled to receive them, the department will pursue recovery of the funds through all available legal and administrative mechanisms, including debt-recovery processes, disciplinary action against any officials responsible for irregular payments, and referrals for further investigation where criminal conduct is suspected.”
Macpherson also told parliament on Wednesday that he was going to pay particular attention to the PMTE.
The PMTE has been plagued by serious governance issues and has failed to achieve a clean audit for years.
“The clearest example of why this reform is necessary is the PMTE, which remains the most urgent area of reform in this portfolio. The PMTE should be managing one of South Africa’s greatest public assets. Yet it has too often been associated with weak systems, inflated leases, underutilised buildings and financial pressure.
“It has never achieved a clean audit since it was established in 2014, reflecting deep governance, financial management and operational failures.
The state owns thousands of buildings and millions of hectares of land, yet the government continues to spend approximately R6bn a year on private leases, which are often inflated above market value.
“We have seen lease submissions that lack the basic information required for lawful oversight; submissions returned with guidance, only for that to be ignored; and leases allowed to lapse [so that emergencies can be created and proper scrutiny bypassed].
“That is why there has been resistance to the concurrence process, which was initiated at the suggestion of the head of the PMTE shortly after I took office,” he said.
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