Ghost Employees Cost SA R3.9bn in 2025 As Home Affairs Launches New System To End Payroll Fraud

• The Department of Home Affairs has announced a new digital verification portal set to go live on 15 June 2026
• This system will be put in place to tackle ghost employees after payroll fraud cost the government an estimated R3.9 billion
• Nearly 9,000 high-risk cases had already been identified by November 2025 through a data-driven approach

Nerissa Naidoo, a journalist at Briefly News since 2024, previously worked as an editor, content creator, researcher, and ghostwriter before joining the team.

SOUTH AFRICA - The South African government handed out R3.9 billion in 2025 to people who either do not exist or should not be on the payroll, and is now racing to plug the hole before more public money disappears.

The Department of Home Affairs announced on 26 May 2026 that it had built a new online verification portal for the National Treasury that will go live on 15 June 2026, giving the government a real-time way to check whether the people it's paying are actually who they say they are.

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What is a ghost employee?

A ghost employee is someone who receives a government salary without being entitled to it. This includes people who are collecting payments from more than one department at the same time, workers who have left or been dismissed but are still being paid and accounts that show suspicious or irregular banking activity.

The problem has been known for years but has proved difficult to fix because any effort to track these cases relied on slow, manual processes that were easy to get around.

The new portal changes that. Built using the Department of Home Affairs' biometric and digital identity systems and linked directly to the national population register, it will allow real-time checks on government employees using liveness tests and biometric data to confirm that the person receiving a salary actually exists and is still active. The system will run across national and provincial government departments for an initial two-month period starting in June.

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How bad is the problem?

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber did not sugarcoat it.

"If used consistently, this platform has the power to save South African taxpayers billions of rands," he said.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana gave some context in his November 2025 budget statement, revealing that a more data-driven approach had already flagged close to 9 000 high-risk cases for further investigation.

The government's Targeted and Responsible Savings initiative has identified R6.7 billion worth of potential savings and has already recovered more than R200 million in fraudulent social grant payments.

South Africans are not impressed

@Joaos said:

"No, the taxpayers paid them. Government forced us to give them money, and they gave it away to criminals."

@Stoufpous added:

"There is no such thing as public money, there is only taxpayers' money."

@casper wrote:

"And no one is in jail for it."

@funnyZa asked:

"How does SARS not pick this up? SARS can pick up a R1 anomaly but can't pick up multiple payment anomalies?"

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More on government corruption

Three Hawks members in KwaZulu-Natal were suspended after being linked to the theft of R200 million worth of cocaine.

Briefly News also covered SANRAL, which went to court to fight back against three suspended supply chain employees who were trying to return to work after being sidelined over alleged gross misconduct.

The SIU broke down exactly how R27 million in UIF relief funds was allegedly stolen during Covid-19.

Source: Briefly News