The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is probing more than 1,000 cases of ghost workers sucking monthly salaries from the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) without doing any work.
In 2022, it was reported that about 1,159 ghost employees suddenly vanished from the Prasa payroll system in a single day when the State-owned entity launched Operation Ziveze, which sought to crack down on the scourge of ghost workers since 2021.
At the time, IOL reported that then transport minister Fikile Mblalula said the disappearance of the 1,159 people saved Prasa R200 million in salaries that were being paid to these people fraudulently, as the ghost workers were not doing any work for the parastatal.
On Thursday, SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika that the fraud continued well after Operation Ziveze.
With the ghost workers the investigation is still going on. You will remember there was an investigation that was done by Prasa itself, called (Operation) Ziveze and we are now looking at what they found, he said.
