Gauteng provincial departments are saving more than R2.2 million a month after they started a project to verify employees' accounts on their payroll systems. This is after more than 120 accounts were frozen that could not be verified.
In May, the Gauteng Provincial Treasury implemented the Identity Verification Solution (IVS), a project that aims to clamp down on fraudulent accounts in the province's payroll systems. Gauteng Department of Finance spokesperson John Sukazi explains that fraudsters in the past registered "ghost employees" on the payroll system, thus receiving more than one salary a month.
The IVS requires employees from all the provincial departments to have their fingerprints and ID numbers checked against the National Population Register, and bank details are then matched with authentic and verified government officials. Each bank account's ownership is also confirmed with the banking sector to ensure there is a direct match with the data in the payroll system.
As treasury is still busy with the verification process, to be finalised by the end of the financial year, final results of the project are not yet available. However, Sukazi says that, in June alone, the IVS led to 215 salaries being recalled and 120 account-holders not showing up to have their details verified. These questionable accounts have since been frozen to allow for a forensic investigation.
In June, R2 259 292 was saved through the freezing of the 120 no-show accounts.
Finance MEC Mandla Nkomfe says the project is part of action plans emanating from provincial audit outcomes. "We are confident that this and other measures that we are implementing as a matter of urgency will ensure that departments efficiently manage the human capital, maximise production and avoid over-expenditure."
Employees in the departments of social development, economic development, infrastructure development and sports, arts, culture and recreation are still being verified.
"IVS is just one of many key projects that we have launched to deal decisively with fraud and corruption. Collectively, these initiatives indicate that we are committed to urgently work to prevent those who operate with impunity from continuing to pillage the resources that we should use to facilitate growth and development in this province," says Nkomfe.
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