First, there were the infamous ghost teachers who received salaries but were never in the classroom.  Now there is dead folk happily picking up lucrative Government tenders.

A report by the Sunday Times has revealed that there are around 12 000 people on the South African government’s books that aren’t even alive. National Treasury’s register of companies shows that these folks are doing business with the state, but that they don’t even have a heartbeat.

National Treasury’s procurement office started a ‘ government clean up’ a few years ago as a means of putting an end to irregular expenditure and wasteful spending and the 12 000 ‘zombie entrepreneurs’ were discovered thanks to this task team.
Additionally, it’s been discovered that 14 000 state employees are listed as directors of companies that aren’t even legally allowed to do business with the state but have been given government tenders.

According to the newspaper, fraud and other dodgy dealings eat into government’s R600 billion annual goods and services budget to the extent of around 40%, which is why the task team is so important.