Government’s “ghost worker” verification process flagged thousands of “ghost workers” on the payroll. (Image created with GenAI)
MTBPS 2026: The state’s “ghost worker” verification process has flagged 4 323 high-risk, suspicious cases in the payroll system.
This is according to National Treasury’s 2026 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) released today.
Ghost employees are defined as people on the payroll who do not work for an organisation. Through the falsification of personnel or payroll records, fraudsters cause salaries to be generated to a “ghost”.
To deal with and manage the public-service wage bill, Treasury and the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) initiated a series of measures, including the “ghost worker” verification process announced during the 2025 National Budget.
The measures also aim to professionalise public administration, eradicate irregular spending and ensure funds allocated to compensation yield a tangible return in service delivery.
According to Treasury, the “rigorous” audit process identifies fictitious, deceased or unverified individuals drawing state salaries and payment irregularities across all national and provincial departments.
“To address officials whose details could not be verified against the National Population Register and other high-risk officials (individuals flagged as potential ghost workers), an online verification platform was developed in partnership with the Department of Home Affairs [DHA],” reads the document.
“This platform enabled real-time verification and was guided by PFMA Instruction No 4 of 2026/27, which took effect on 15 June 2026. The platform remained open for two months, closing on 15 August 2026, and was designed to complement the physical verifications completed by the DPSA.”
In the 2026 Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure, Treasury indicates that R859 000 is transferred to the DHA to fund the continuation of the ghost worker’s project.
Treasury adds that it is consolidating the findings from all government ghost worker initiatives, including those by the Department of Basic Education and the DPSA, and will provide the results by the 2027 Budget.
It further notes it’s working with the Financial Intelligence Centre to investigate high-risk officials, with findings also set to be published in the 2027 Budget.