Staff get R1.8bn 'by mistake'

NOT RECOVERED: DEPT CALLS IT 'ISOLATED CASES' AND TAKES 'IMMEDIATE CORRECTIVE ACTION'

- Masoka Dube

Ghost teachers and housing allowances paid to employees not entitled to them have cost the Mpumalanga department of education a whopping R1.8 billion in irregular expenditure.

The recently released auditor-general's (AG) report has revealed that the department has, in the previous financial years, approved housing allowances without supporting documents to employees who did not qualify, and also made salary payments to employees who were no longer working for the department, as well as those who had died.

According to the AG, there is a lack of execution of controls in the department, which is due to a lack of consequence management for poor performance by officials.

The report stated that the transgressions have led to the department's regression on their audit outcomes and R1.8 billion in irregular expenditure.

With a total of 32 000 teaching staff and 4 000 support workers, the average irregular expenditure would amount to R36 000 per employee. But given that ghost teachers and those not entitled to housing allowances would be far fewer, then the average spend on those who benefited would have been much higher.