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During the Finance Ministers’ Budget Speech, the Finance Minister made a clear commitment that National Treasury will conduct “ghost audits” to eliminate so-called “ghost” employees in public administration.

The Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration agrees that the existence of these public service ghost employees, or, if you will, Casper – the unfriendly public service ghost, creates wastage in the public service wage bill and should be investigated. The ghosts also works directly against the this government’s efforts to establish a professional, merit-based and independent public service.

While the committee commends the Minister’s intention to hunt down these ghosts, it is also true that part of this committee’s oversight duties over the public service and administration should be to join the hunt for Casper.

Members of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration today, therefore, decided to prioritise its efforts to become the ghostbusters of the public service by prioritising their requests for the following engagements:

• A joint sitting with the finance committee, for a briefing from the Minister of Finance and the Treasury on the strategy, scope and progress of ghost audits throughout the state.
• A oversight visits to all provinces, where the committee will engage with provincial government and other national departments on their strategies, scope and progress of ghost audits throughout the state, starting with the committee’s oversight visits to Gauteng and North West next week.
• A special committee sitting with the Public Service Commission and the Department of Public Service and Administration to understand their current strategy, scope and progress of ghost audits throughout government departments.

These are just the initial steps that the committee will take to hunt down the public service ghosts and the puppet masters who sit behind them. We must never forget that behind every Casper sits a criminal who syphons taxpayer money into his pockets. These ghost salaries do not just disappear into the void, they are undoubtably funnelled into the pockets of criminals, who should be identified, arrested and prosecuted.

Public Service and Administration committee members have therefore committed to become Parliament’s ghostbusting squad. We will show our sincere and urgent intention to play our part in professionalising the state and eliminating this wasteful expenditure.

Issued by the Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, Jan de Villiers