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Systems in Free State province’s public institutions seem to have a weakness that fails to detect ghost workers immediately.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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A 46-year-old man, Paseka Ishmael Choeu, has finally handed himself over to the Hawks on allegations of drawing salaries from two different government institutions.

The Hawks had been looking for Choeu since April 2022 after being informed that he was employed by the Department of Higher Education and Training as a lecturer at Community Education and Training College in Bloemfontein in January 2017 and two years later he was also employed at Mangaung Metro Municipality as a financial manager.

However, when he joined Mangaung, he did not resign as a lecturer. Choeu greedily collected two salaries.

Mangaung Metro spokesperson, Qondile Khedama, said that the municipality reported Choeu to the police after finding out that he held two jobs.

Choeu allegedly had this clearly figured out because he was able to sign registers at both workplaces every morning. Free State Hawks spokesperson, Captain Christopher Singo, said: “It was further reported that the suspect was signing in the on-duty registers at both offices recording the same time.”

Choeu handed himself over to the Hawks' investigating officers on June 20 and appeared in the Bloemfontein Specialised Commercial Crimes Court the same day on fraud and theft charges.  He will appear in court again on July 29 2024 and has been released on R5 000 bail.

Systems in Free State province’s public institutions seem to have a weakness that fails to detect ghost workers immediately.

The Hawks have been investigating the province’s health department following the suspension ofthree human resources officials, and one administration clerk suspected of bypassing systems to employ ghost workers as medical interns.

The investigation is now full-scale as the department and police aim to uncover more ghost workers straining department’s salary bill.

The four employees were suspended following preliminary findings by the department in February.

Health spokesperson, Mondli Mvambi, was quoted in News24 saying that initial findings revealed the officials allegedly manipulated the department’s systems to place the ghost workers on the payroll and their payment. 

“Internal investigations currently underway have identified three such ghost workers who were all fictitiously appointed as medical interns. A possibility exists to suspend more officials should such be discovered,” Mvambi said.