Some employees at the national department of basic education say they felt like “prisoners” during a surprise verification drive intended to root out ghost workers.
The process, which required every staff member to report to the office in person and pose for a passport-style photograph, was announced with less than 24 hours’ notice last month.
Several staffers said they had to cancel long-scheduled meetings, including provincial work trips, to comply. While they knew ghost-worker verification was under way in provinces, they said they were not informed it would also apply to employees at national level.
A message sent to staff on their WhatsApp group stated: “This communication follows an urgent meeting with the director-general (DG) held today [November 17], concerning a critical, non-negotiable directive. All staff members must be verified in accordance with the ELRC [Education Labour Relations Council] verification process.
“We must complete the verification of a minimum of 60% of our respective staff members by tomorrow afternoon. The DG has explicitly stated that no excuses will be accepted if the 60% target is not met.”
Some employees described the experience as invasive and poorly handled. One said the rush created panic and resentment: “We were expected to drop everything.”
Employees charged that the department had failed to follow procedure, leaving them unable to explain the sudden disruption to the provincial offices they were meant to support. “At least table something in a meeting,” one staffer said. “Have a discussion. We couldn’t even explain to officials in the provinces why we had to cancel everything.”
You say people must come back immediately, but many of us are working on exams. How do you just pull people away?
— Basic education department employee
The employees said the verification clashed with exam-monitoring duties — a crucial period when national and provincial staff are deployed across the country. “You say people must come back immediately, but many of us are working on exams. How do you just pull people away?” asked one.
Some employees said the department’s stance suggested it viewed worker discomfort as secondary to its administrative priorities. “I understand the bigger picture. But they should respect us enough to communicate properly,” another staffer said. “Treat us like professionals, not suspects.”
Basic education spokesperson Terence Khala defended the verification drive and dismissed criticism of the short notice. He said ghost workers posed a real risk to public finances and that robust verification was essential. “If you want to remain above board and use funds correctly, it’s important to know who is actually in the system and in what category. We cannot increase wasteful expenditure.”
Khala said verification was a standard human resources process: “It’s routine. Pre-emptive verification is better than being exposed for having thousands of ghost employees.”
He insisted that the verification was simply a necessary clean-up exercise. “We must make sure that what we tell Treasury and the public is true,” he said. “Pre-emptive measures are better than reactive ones. We must keep an eye on ourselves.”
Ghost workers — individuals who do not actually work for government but still claim salaries — have long haunted national and provincial departments. The National Treasury has flagged them as a significant source of wasteful expenditure.
Efforts to tighten payroll management systems and curb corruption were announced by finance minister Enoch Godongwana during his medium-term budget policy statement in parliament last month. Godongwana said about 9,000 cases had been flagged for further verification. He said the National Treasury was working with the public service & administration department to identify ghost workers and payment irregularities across all departments.
There are various categories of ghost workers, including people who appear on the payroll but do not perform the duties associated with their positions. They can also be people who have left the public service or have died.
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