One government department pays R14.7 million a year to workers it does not employ

The Department of Public Works (DPW) loses approximately R14.7 million every year in payments made to ghost workers, with most of this coming from its Durban branch.

A recent audit undertaken by the DPW uncovered at least 60 municipal officials who could not be accounted for on the department’s payroll.

Around 41 of these individuals could be traced back to the DPW’s regional office in Durban, all of whom failed to present themselves or their documentation for verification.

In addition, the DPW found that two former employees of its Durban branch continued to receive monthly remuneration despite no longer working for the department.

In response, the DPW moved to freeze these salaries and said it would pursue all legal recourse in order to recover the lost funds.

The DPW investigation into the matter followed the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) flagging serious financial irregularities in the eThekwini (Durban) metropolitan municipality.

This included the payment of ghost workers, deceased employees, and ineligible beneficiaries, as well as the municipality’s failure to provide adequate financial records.

Following this revelation, Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson announced that the municipality’s Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) funding would be suspended.

The EPWP is intended for reducing poverty and unemployment in South Africa by providing temporary training and work opportunities in labour-intensive fields such as infrastructure maintenance.

Macpherson announced the suspension on 14 April 2026, giving the municipality 30 days to investigate the matter, implement corrective action, and mete out disciplinary proceedings.

When the municipality failed to do so in the given timeframe, Macpherson confirmed that its EPWP funding would not be administered for the 2026/27 financial year.

“EPWP must be a programme that gives people a fair opportunity to work, earn, and build their skills,” Macpherson said. “It must never be used as a tool for patronage, control, or abuse.”

“The money allocated to EPWP does not belong to any officials, politicians, networks or gatekeepers. When control fails, it’s the unemployed who suffer the most.”

Lack of municipal control

In an interview with Newzroom Afrika, Macpherson said a severe lack of accountability and control at the eThekwini municipality had allowed its ghost worker problem to escalate.

According to Macpherson, the AGSA had been raising these issues with the municipality for at least four years before the DPW’s investigation.

“Specifically around its lack of control or audit trails on how those grants, which we provide, are not only distributed but then reconciled,” Macpherson said.

“It was found that there was money being paid to people who were deceased, and people already in the employ of the municipality.”

The AGSA found that there had been a sharp decline in the number of people receiving EPWP support over the last four years and reported this to the DPW.

Three officials identified as participants in the scheme chose to resign from the department in an attempt to avoid having to undergo lifestyle audits.

Macpherson stressed that the audits will continue regardless and that if any irregularity can be traced back to those who have already resigned, the DPW will pursue legal action against them.

According to Macpherson, over 4,500 EPWP-dependent employees had come forward to say they had been pressured for political, sexual, and monetary compensation.

Following its investigation, the DPW announced it would introduce a reform agenda focused specifically on EPWP, which Macpherson described as “irreversible”.

“At the focus and the centre of it is transparency,” Macpherson said. “It’s about ensuring that applicants can deal directly with the programme, and not through an intermediary like a ward councillor.”

“It’s to make sure that we transition from short-term poverty alleviation to long-term job opportunity through skills development.”

Macpherson said the first phase of the reform agenda had already been launched in KwaZulu-Natal, with the second phase set to launch in Limpopo at the end of July.