R114m in salaries paid to North West education ghost workers

Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA) has exposed a payroll scandal in the North West education department, revealing R114 million in irregular salary payments to staff who had resigned, retired or even died.

The finding, tabled in the legislature, points to serious lapses in oversight and control, with opposition parties warning of systemic governance failure, while officials insist the errors stemmed from outdated manual systems now being replaced.

It said: “The auditor-general can confirm it issued a financial loss material irregularity [MI] against the North West department of education on 31 July, 2023, relating to salary overpayments due to employees who had resigned, retired or died not being timeously removed from the personnel salary system, resulting in payments for services not rendered.

“During the 2022-23 financial year, the department disclosed a staff debt balance of R114.3 million, largely impaired due to the low likelihood of recovery. The MI is at the remedial action stage and the progress will be included in the department’s audit report.”

Opposition points to governance breakdown

Wolfgang Wallhorn, DA member of provincial legislature, said such payments could not have occurred without a breakdown in payroll verification, HR controls and supervisory oversight.

“These incidents are not isolated errors; they represent a systemic governance collapse that placed public funds at serious risk,” he said.

Wallhorn said though the department has introduced the automated leave and termination management system (ALTMS) to improve termination tracking and prevent future overpayments, the systems alone do not remediate accountability failures.

He said ALTMS will have to be taken through stringent live tests to assess effectiveness in practice to ensure similar incidents cannot occur again.

“Equally concerning is the lack of clarity around disciplinary and consequence management processes,” Wallhorn said.

“The public deserves clarity as to who authorised these payments, who disregarded warning signs and what actions have been taken against responsible officials. Without visible and credible disciplinary outcomes, any reform measures risk being meaningless.”

DA demands oversight and transparency

He said the DA insists that the department submit regular, detailed progress reports to the portfolio committee covering investigations, recovery of funds, disciplinary proceedings and system control improvements.

“These reports will determine the next oversight steps. The citizens of North West deserve assurance that public money is protected, that negligence is punished and that this payroll scandal is resolved with full transparency and accountability,” Wallhorn said.

“The DA will continue to pursue this matter until every responsible party is identified and every recoverable rand is accounted for.”

Department attributes issue to manual systems

According to the department, the staff debts stem from delayed terminations and resignations that occurred shortly after salary runs.

Spokesperson Vuyo Mantshule said the system was manual at the time, contributing to timing gaps and overpayments.

“The department confirms these incidents do not represent a systemic governance collapse,” he said.

“While the identified staff debts highlight areas where manual processes created vulnerabilities, they are isolated cases and do not reflect a broader failure in the department’s governance structures, or oversight mechanism.”

Mantshule said they have since introduced the ALTMS to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of the termination process.

“The system is specifically designed to address the control deficiencies that contributed to delayed terminations, ensuring that similar overpayments do not occur in the future,” he said.

The department is currently conducting thorough investigations into all staff debt and payroll irregularities, Mantshule said.

“Upon conclusion of these investigations, all eligible matters are being referred to the labour relations unit for further action, including appropriate disciplinary and consequence management measures,” he said.