KwaZulu-Natal - A total of 22 000 KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education staffers have yet to be accounted for in a massive government-driven headcount aimed at identifying which names on the payroll are those of ghost employees.
The existence and professional qualifications of 120 000 school and adult education teachers, and other employees, have had to be verified.
The provincial treasury, which has been conducting the two-year-long process, is hopeful that this fifth phase will be the last.
This time around, beginning with the Amajuba district, teachers are to be asked to report physically to meeting points in their areas.
The treasury has urged the directors of all 12 education districts to co-operate and communicate details of the process to schools, to avoid the headcount having to be extended to a sixth phase.
Speaking at the department’s Durban headquarters, Truro House on Tuesday, education head Nkosinathi Sishi said that during the first and second phase, treasuryofficials had visited all 6 000 schools in the province.
He said that in the fifth phase of the headcount, if an employee did not pitch up on a particular date, they would be asked physically to collect their salary cheque rather than its being paid electronically into their bank account.
If they did not collect their cheque within a month, their salary would be suspended – which would then warrant a “huge investigation”.
The treasury did not want to freeze the salaries of employees who were on leave, sick, or unaware of the process because of poor communication, he said.
Vryheid would be the last district for the blitz, which would also include the department’s administrative offices.
Six people were axed from the Department of Education at the end of last year for involvement in the fraud. The department would not say whether they were teachers or administrative staff.
More recently, seven names out of 10 suspected to be those of ghost employees were found to be authentic. The other three were the subject of a criminal investigation, Sishi revealed.
He said that for every ghost teacher, there were at least 10 to 14 people – principals and education officials among them – who colluded to lay claim fraudulently to the salary.
There was a perception that this was “rampant”, but he predicted that ultimately the process would find a maximum of 10 people guilty.
“I’ve seen the figures, it won’t [be a] disaster.” Sishi said, referring to preliminary figures given in the report compiled by the treasury but not released. He asked that the treasury not present this report on Tuesday, but wait until the process was complete.
* The exercise to identify which names represent ghost employees is being piloted in KZN. - The Mercury