Education
With reference to the issue of so-called “ghost teachers” in the education
system:
(1) (a) How many cases of ghost teachers have been identified in (i) 2022/23,
(ii) 2023/24 and (iii) 2024/25 to date, broken down by education district, (b)
what was the total estimated cost to the provincial fiscus of these ghost
teacher salaries for the same period as in (a) above, (c) what internal
control and verification systems are currently in place to (i) detect and (ii)
prevent ghost teachers being paid, (d) how many investigations into cases
of ghost teachers are currently ongoing and (e) what measures are being
taken to ensure disciplinary action or criminal prosecution where fraud is
found;
(2) (a) what is the impact of cases of ghost teachers on the availability of
funded educator posts in the province, (b) how has this affected classroom
delivery, specifically with respect to learner–teacher ratios in high-pressure
districts, (c) how many of the cases of ghost teacher involved collusion by
school management or district officials and (d) what remedial measures
have been instituted to prevent any recurrence;
(3) whether his Department has any plans to make use of digital biometric
attendance, centralised HR or payroll auditing or collaboration with the
Auditor-General and the Provincial Treasury to strengthen oversight and to
reduce the risk of ghost teachers remaining undetected; if so, what are the
timelines for implementation?
(1) (a) There have been no cases of ghost employees on the WCED payroll.
(b) Not applicable.
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(c) All nominations must be accompanied by a copy of a certified
Identity Document (ID) and proof of bank account as endorsed by
the relevant bank. All IDs are submitted for vetting against the
information from the Department of Home Affairs. Any contract
nomination received from a school is submitted via an online system
and the validity of the post available is recommended by the Circuit
Manager responsible for the relevant school.
The Forensics Investigation Unit conducted a ghost employee audit in
2022. The outcome indicated that there were no ghost employees.
The Auditor-General conducts a sample physical verification of
officials annually during the audit process.
(d) There are no cases of ghost employees registered nor being
investigated.
(e) Any allegation of fraud is dealt with in terms of the relevant prescripts.
If the evidence is conclusive the matter is dealt with via disciplinary
procedures, and a criminal charge is also laid at the South African
Police Service.
(2) Not applicable.
(3) All schools are making use of an online attendance register, which provides
daily updates on attendance.
The Human Resources or People Management function is centralised in the
WCED.
The payroll is verified monthly with paymasters verifying that officials in
schools and in offices of the WCED is entitled to a salary based on
attendance.
Any termination is reflected by the paymaster on the system and actions
are implemented to either stop the salary or change the pay point of an
official should they have moved school or office.
