Godongwana plans reviews of ghost workers, civil servants remuneration

FINANCE Minister Enoch Godongwana said there were new reviews that Treasury planned to conduct, including an audit of ghost workers in the public service, an infrastructure conditional grant review, and a review of the remuneration of executives and board members of public entities.

- SIPHELELE DLUDLA

FINANCE Minister Enoch Godongwana has set forth a strategic vision for the National Treasury aimed at achieving sustainable public finances, including wide-ranging spending reviews, while enhancing the effectiveness of revenue collection.

The department's budget for the medium term stands at R91.835 billion, reflecting an average growth rate of 6.2% from 2024/25 to 2027/28.

The largest portion of this budget of R45.760 billion (49.8%) is earmarked for transfers to the South African Revenue Service (Sars).

This allocation marks an R8bn increase over the 2024 Estimate of Expenditure, highlighting the government’s commitment to bolster Sars’ operational and capital projects, which are pivotal in recovering the country’s revenue streams.

"Part of this increase is to improve effectiveness in revenue collection by enhancing theirability to collect debt through better systems, increasing staff capacity and modernising theirprocesses to establish e-invoicing for VAT, instant payment systems and upgrades ofcustoms infrastructure," Godongwana said.