BUDGET 2026 | Ghost worker audit flags 4,000 government officials

The government’s ghost worker audit has identified more than 4,000 high-risk employees whose status on the civil service payroll is questionable. This is according to budget documents tabled in parliament by finance minister Enoch Godongwana on Wednesday. “The phenomenon of non-existent or ineligible individuals receiving state salaries has been one of the most striking weaknesses of public financial management.

“A sophisticated verification process is under way to address this. “The updated tests identified 4,323 high-risk employees requiring further verification.” New technologies, including facial recognition and physical verification, would be used in the ghost worker audit. Over the next three years, or the medium-term expenditure framework, R285m would be spent on improving “cross-government bulk purchasing”, including the modernisation of government.

“The next phase of this project will integrate with improvements to payroll systems and the rollout of a single sign-on for public servants. These changes will enable automated oversight, reduce irregularities and support more effective expenditure management.” Turning to the civil service’s R3.7bn early retirement programme, introduced to incentivise civil service employees older than 55 to retire early, Godongwana said more than 7,000 applications had thus far been approved. “Since the programme commenced in October 2025, 7,687 applications have been approved, while R3.7bn of the available amount has been drawn down. The estimated saving from this programme is R5.5bn, of which R2.6bn will be realised in 2026/27, R1.4bn in the 2027/28 and R1.5bn in 2028/29.”