Latest / The National Briefing / Questions are being raised about possible payroll irregularities in the education sector after a nationwide verification exercise uncovered more than 22,000 employee records that do not match government payroll data.

Transcript

Questions are being raised about possible payroll irregularities in the education sector after a nationwide verification exercise uncovered more than 22,000 employee records that do not match government payroll data. · The National Briefing

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  Speaker 1: The National Briefing on SAFM weekday mornings from 6 to 9.
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  Speaker 2: You're still listening to the national briefing. It's 6:50. Let's
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  Speaker 2: get into this story. 22,000, that's the number of employees
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  Speaker 2: um that uh the records in basic education could not
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  Speaker 2: be matched to the government payroll data, and this was
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  Speaker 2: specifically when verifiers
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  Speaker 2: counted the number of employees at public schools. So there
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  Speaker 2: is this big discrepancy around where this 22,000 workers are.
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  Speaker 2: Joining us is Bernice Loxton, a spokesperson for the Education
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  Speaker 2: Labour Relations Council. Bernice, good morning to you. Thank you
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  Speaker 2: for your time.
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  Speaker 2: Let's firstly start with what this verification has unearthed. Are
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  Speaker 2: these ghost workers, effectively?
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Kathy, and to the listeners.
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  Speaker 2: Um, the numbers refer to the 22,837, uh, employee records
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  Speaker 2: that could not be matched to National Treasury's payroll system. Um, the, uh,
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  Speaker 2: the report does not conclude that these are ghost employees.
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  Speaker 2: These mismatches could be caused by administrative errors, uh, data capture, mistakes, uh,
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  Speaker 2: temporary appointments or delays in updating systems. Uh, but we
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  Speaker 2: do acknowledge that this is a significant, um, number, um,
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  Speaker 2: and it requires urgent investigation, um, by the provincial education departments.
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  Speaker 2: So, if we are unsure about, you know, what then
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  Speaker 2: this 22,000 represents, uh, what is the credibility of the
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  Speaker 2: verifications that have taken place?
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  Speaker 2: The, uh, it, it, it, it was a very credible system, um,
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  Speaker 2: process that was undertaken and the aim of this, um,
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  Speaker 2: exercise was to unearth the, uh, anomalies that we have
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  Speaker 2: in the system. So, uh, based on the information that
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  Speaker 2: was found.
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  Speaker 2: Um, at this stage, we cannot confirm what this number means.
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  Speaker 2: It simply means that the departments have to delve deeper.
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  Speaker 2: They have to.
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  Speaker 2: They have to make sure that there are investigations done,
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  Speaker 2: so that we can confirm um what these numbers mean.
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  Speaker 2: And if there is um any fraud that is uncovered
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  Speaker 2: or uh ghost workers, um, that, that are found in
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  Speaker 2: the system, then, um, the Department of Education will take
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  Speaker 2: the appropriate action and refer these cases.
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  Speaker 2: Um, of suspected criminal conduct to the relevant authorities. salaries
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  Speaker 2: and I say that, you know, very cautiously because we
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  Speaker 2: don't know if they are in fact, um, employees on
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  Speaker 2: the other end, but are their salaries going to continue
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  Speaker 2: to be paid as normal?
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  Speaker 2: What we can confirm is that um the Department of
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  Speaker 2: Basic Education has started sharing the reports with uh
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  Speaker 2: The affected uh uh provincial education departments and they have
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  Speaker 2: started with a plan of action to investigate, um, these cases.
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  Speaker 2: There has already been a report backs so we can
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  Speaker 2: confirm that the, the provincial departments have started taking action.
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  Speaker 2: But at this point, we don't know what action they've
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  Speaker 2: started taking.
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  Speaker 2: Uh, we have to wait for them to finalize their processes.
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  Speaker 2: OK, when will we get a more extensive update, Bernice,
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  Speaker 2: that at least gives us more answers because I feel
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  Speaker 2: that we're still left hanging after this conversation.
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  Speaker 2: Um, the report that was issued, it's, um, proposed very
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  Speaker 2: specific time frames for the different departments of education. So, um,
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  Speaker 2: as I mentioned that this process has already started. So
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  Speaker 2: within those, uh, specified, uh, uh, time frames, there will be, uh,
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  Speaker 2: reports issued.
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  Speaker 2: We do, uh, um, regard this as a very serious issue.
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  Speaker 2: So we cannot confirm specific specifically by which dates, um,
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  Speaker 2: these investigations will be concluded. We can we can we're
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  Speaker 2: going to have to leave it there. Bernice Loxton, uh,
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  Speaker 2: the spokesperson for the Education Labour Relations Council.