Over 2 000 ‘ghost’ workers haunt Prasa

THE Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has 2 006 unverified employees, or “ghost” workers.

This was revealed by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula yesterday during his train ride on the Saulsville to Pretoria line.

“Initially, Prasa identified 3 100 employees who were not physically verified. Further investigations revealed that some were on sick leave, annual leave, suspensions and maternity leave,” said Mbalula.

“Prasa currently stands at 2 006 unverified employees. The exercise has also uncovered 50 foreign nationals with fraudulent or expired documents”.

Mbalula said efforts to strengthen governance and build requisite capacity for Prasa to deliver on its mandate were gaining traction. Last year Prasa initiated a project called Operation Ziveze aimed at validating employees and unearthing ghost workers.

Mbalula said Phase 2 of the project, currently under way, involved looking at validating identity documents, work permits for foreign nationals and matric certificates.

The minister said to date, Prasa had identified over 400 employees who had criminal records and/or fraudulent documents.

“Prasa has since frozen the salaries of the 2 006 employees, who comprise 1 278 who have yet to present themselves for physical verification and 728 suspected ghost employees,” Mbalula said.

He said Phase 3 would be the final step that would validate qualifications or fraudulent submissions.

Mbalula said Phase 4 would entail tangible action, including removal of ghost employees from the system and actioning consequence management against those officials found complicit in creating and concealing ghosts in the payroll system, and recovery of losses suffered by Prasa.

“In parallel to this, Prasa has instituted a forensic audit into payroll matters,” he said.