Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber has announced a new initiative by Home Affairs that is in support of the government’s efforts to eliminate ghost employees and payment irregularities, which cost the national fiscus an estimated R3.9 billion in 2025.
The announcement of the online, real-time employee verification portal developed by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) for the National Treasury has been called overdue and welcomed as a critical weapon against ghost workers.
The verification portal is part of the government’s broader digital transformation agenda to strengthen public sector accountability and protect public funds. The platform will officially go live on June 15, 2026, with the verification process scheduled to run for an initial two-month period across national and provincial departments.
The initiative by Home Affairs is in support of the government’s efforts to eliminate ghost employees and payment irregularities, which cost the national fiscus an estimated R3.9 billion in 2025.
Home Affairs Minister, Dr Leon Schreiber, said: “If used consistently, this platform has the power to save South African taxpayers billions of Rand by leveraging the power of enhanced biometric systems to identify ghost employees and others involved in defrauding government payrolls.”
