Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula Says Action Has Been Taken Against 3 000 Prasa Ghost Employees

• Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula announced that Prasa has been able to squeeze out 3 000 ghost employees
• Mbalula stated that Prasa was able to freeze their salaries after the completion of Project Ziveze
• South Africans have a lot of questions for the minister and want to find out when the real culprits will be arrested

JOHANNESBURG - The Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula recently announced the department's efforts to clamp down on ghost employees at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa).

Mbalula stated that investigations revealed that 3 000 unverifiable people were receiving salaries from Prasa and the salaries of these "employees" were all frozen as a result.

According to News24, Prasa launched an employee verification initiative called Project Ziveze (reveal yourself) that is aimed at physically verifying all Prasa employees.

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Mbalula added that Project Ziveze also gave employees who had not been verified the chance to come forward, assisting the organisation in addressing payroll verification's shortcomings.

Mbalula stated that a forensic investigation is currently taking place to identify where the ghost employees come from.

Once the probe is completed, Mbalula stated that action would be taken against those implicated and the ghost employees will be permanently removed from Prasa's system. The forensic report is expected to be issued by the end of August 2022, according to TimesLIVE.

South Africans react

South Africans have raised many questions about Prasa's ghost employees. Some people want to know how people were able to get salaries without actually being employees and believe that HR might be involved.

Some people have also noted that Mbalula and his office still need to uncover how the ghost employees got onto the system.

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Here are some comments:

@EPristo said:

"Dear Minister. Do not only freeze the salaries. Also, check how long they have been paid and recover the money. Also, find the responsible HR people and ensure they are disciplined: there is a clear process of recruitment, appointment and remuneration."

@BoknRoll said:

"This is not something to brag about. How long have we been paying their salaries? Who are the beneficiaries?"

@rudi_ingenieur said:

"How do you even have 3k ghost employees to begin with.?Whoever is signing off on those payroll payments needs to have the book thrown at them."

@KingKKL_ said:

"You need a sophisticated HR system to manage these kinds of things."

@PelserGeorge said:

"How many arrests? Somebody opened and ok'd these payments monthly and for how long? And all this happened on your watch? What steps have been done to collect these monies? So many unanswered questions. You're not fit to run a school tuckshop."

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Fikile Mbalula says Prasa’s ghost employees are still unresolved after initially claiming salaries were frozen

Briefly News previously reported that the 3000 Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) suspected ghost workers are still earning a salary according to Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula.

He earlier told parliament that the salaries were stopped in December. Mbalula told the Standing Committee on Public Accounts that the existence of ghost workers was a “grand scam”. However, the transport minister changed his tune and said an internal audit process will be conducted.

In March, he said they were costing Prasa about R4 billion to repair damaged infrastructure. Mbalula said a forensic investigation was tasked to uncover the ghost workers.

Source: Briefly News