Education department slated over failure to curb fraud.
The Mpumalanga department of education is under fire after it was revealed that a staggering R19 million in salaries was overpaid to deceased and terminated employees – more than triple the R6 million flagged by the auditor-general the previous year.
The department confirmed over the weekend that it is investigating 1 270 cases linked to erroneous payments, amid growing public outrage and renewed calls for accountability.
The department was reacting to an article in The Citizen that it had spent R1.8 billion on ghost employees and approving housing allowances without following procedures.
“The department is finalising investigations into 1 270 cases of salary overpayments amounting to R19 million and recovery processes are already underway in line with Treasury regulations,” said department of education provincial spokesperson Gerald Sambo.
“Most overpayments result from administrative delays, such as late reporting of deaths or resignations. When these are identified, the department immediately initiates recovery from beneficiaries.”
Poor control environment
Sambo said in the past year the department had implemented staff training to improve compliance with termination procedures and strengthened circuit-level monitoring systems for early detection of potential overpayments.
According to the 2024-25 AG report, “the department has a poor control environment, particularly in human resource management.
“The preventative controls are not implemented, and officials are only reactive to the issues identified.
“In the current year, human resources managers approved housing allowances without supporting documents. The lack of execution of controls is due to a lack of consequence management for poor performance by officials.”
Be that as it may, on page 238 of the AG report on material irregularities, the AG acknowledged the department’s progress in addressing salary overpayments through improved control measures and timely recoveries.
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No longer a genuine mistake
Labour analyst Bukani Mngoma said overpayment or underpayment occurs in many public and private organisations. But he said the frequency and the scale at which it happens in the public sector, particularly in provincial departments, could no longer be regarded as a genuine mistake.
“This is particularly worrying because it tends to happen in what is regarded as rural provinces like Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape,” he said.
“These are provinces that we are aware have been beset by allegations of corruption.
“It is reasonable to make a conclusion that corruption and poverty in those provinces have become the most attractive way for officials, in collusion with the communities, to enrich themselves.”
Mngoma said when things like this happened, officials from the affected departments were expected to investigate and report on who is responsible for the lapses and also provide a plan to the Treasury department as to how to prevent it from happening again.
Political parties must intervene
Political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast has called on political parties to play their role of holding government officials to account and expose them.
Breakfast believes the watchdogs are letting officials get away with crime.
“For example, when the Mpumalanga department of education admits that they wasted almost R20 million in salary overpayments – and nobody is taking action about it – this is not a mistake but a crime,” he said.
Political analyst Goodenough Mashego said the AG should be given powers to recommend prosecution instead of revealing the wrongdoing and stepping aside.
