Home Affairs has unveiled a powerful new digital verification system aimed at rooting out “ghost workers” draining billions from the public purse in what the government says is a major breakthrough in the fight against payroll fraud and corruption.
The biometric platform, developed for National Treasury and linked directly to the national population register, will go live on June 15 and is expected to verify public servants in real time using facial recognition and liveness testing, a move Home Affairs believes could save taxpayers billions after ghost employees allegedly cost the state an estimated R3.9 billion in 2025.
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said the system represents a turning point in the government's digital reform drive and could help expose fraudulent employees embedded within the public sector payroll system.
“If used consistently, this platform has the power to save South African taxpayers billions of Rands by leveraging the power of enhanced biometric systems to identify ghost employees and others involved in defrauding government payrolls,” Schreiber said.
The online verification portal forms part of a broader state-led crackdown on ghost workers after repeated audits uncovered thousands of suspicious salary payments across government departments. Earlier this year, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana revealed that more than 4,000 suspected ghost workers had already been identified in the public service payroll system.
