Ghost employees and salaries leave KZN fiscus R160m in the red
KwaZulu-Natal finance MEC Francois Rodgers painted a bleak picture in the KZN legislature on Tuesday when briefing MPLs on the unaudited 2024/25 financial year close-out report for provincial departments.
The treasury said KZN had experienced equitable share budget cuts amounting to more than R64bn since 2020.
'In the 2024/25 financial year, provincial expenditure amounted to R151.9bn, exceeding the budget by R158.6m. An amount totalling R7.8bn has been accrued to the 2025/26 financial year,' said Rodgers.
He said he was concerned that the amount accrued far exceeded accruals from the past two financial years.
'I am further concerned that from accruals, R3.2bn is more than 30 days which is non-compliant with the Public Finance Management Act. This signals a negative affect on future budgets,' he said.
With regard to ghost employees, Rodgers and his cabinet counterparts are conducting a verification process.
'Adherence to financial management prescripts and good corporate governance will be key to alleviating pressure on the provincial fiscus,' Rodgers said. 'We must also continue seeking partnerships with all key stakeholders, including the business community, and find cost-effective strategies that will bring us closer to the establishment of a capable and ethical state.'
The provincial cabinet recently approved the KZN financial recovery plan aimed at restoring financial stability, eliminating wasteful expenditure and enhancing revenue collection, among others.
Public Servants' Association KZN manager Mlungisi Ndlovu echoed Rodgers' concerns.
'The big question is where are they overspending, because the majority of them, especially frontline departments like education and health, are not financially sound,' he said.
Ndlovu said the provincial government needed to clamp down on the scourge of ghost employees in the public service.
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Daily Maverick
2 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
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He said Ramaphosa had shared details of his conversation with 'the Russian side' (Putin) and was adamant that 'the path to peace must begin with a ceasefire'. Ramaphosa's office said Zelensky 'expressed his appreciation for South Africa's continued support in finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict'. These statements were rather cryptic. Zelensky and Putin are poles apart on how to end this vicious war, yet both expressed appreciation for Ramaphosa's contributions to peace efforts. So what did Ramaphosa say, what advice, if any, did he give? No one who really knows seems to be saying. Jalel Harchaoui, a political scientist at the Royal United Services Institute, said he believed 'Ramaphosa couldn't possibly have said anything of relevance' in his phone calls with Zelensky and Putin. And Ramaphosa's conversations with Zelensky and Putin were probably 'just standard fare', underlining his general narrative that he wants a ceasefire. 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Kachur noted that South Africa was playing a concrete role in the attempts to return some of the about 20,000 Ukrainian children abducted by Russia after its invasion of Ukraine and deported to Russia. When Zelensky met Ramaphosa in Pretoria, he gave him a list of 400 abducted children who South Africa promised to try to return – but with no success and no visible progress so far. African Peace Initiative But Kachur believes there is much South Africa and Ramaphosa could still do for Africa and otherwise. The 2023 African Peace Initiative remained important, not only because of those direct impacts which Ramani mentioned – such as African food insecurity caused by Russia's blockade of Ukraine's grain exports. It also remained important because the Ukraine war also had wider, deeper and longer impacts on principles important to Africa, such as restitution for war damages, accountability for aggression, reframing borders, and the future of the UN system. 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Perhaps Ramaphosa was conveying messages in his phone calls with Zelensky and Putin, said Steven Gruzd, head of the Africa-Russia project at the South African Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg. 'But I don't think South Africa is playing any major role in peacemaking between Ukraine and Russia. 'I don't see much room and evidence of us being a major peacemaker. 'The African Peace Initiative didn't really go very far. And there was not much follow-up. I don't think the money or the infrastructure has been put behind it to really make it a serious effort.' Gruzd added though that South Africa had also 'taken measures to appear less one-sided (i.e. pro-Russian) in this conflict, the biggest being Zelensky's visit to SA in April'. He thought that South Africa could play a bigger role in the Ukraine peace effort but that would require US support, which could in turn improve its poor relations with Washington. 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Read more: War in Ukraine 'Realistically, no single initiative has yet succeeded in bringing peace,' Reva says. 'Pretoria seems to have shifted its emphasis towards humanitarian concerns, rather than positioning itself as a primary broker of a peace settlement.' He added that 'SA's readiness to mediate the return of the children is an important humanitarian contribution amid stalled negotiations elsewhere. I think Pretoria has been fairly consistent in this regard, and I think that both Kyiv and Moscow probably welcome South African efforts.' And he said both Kyiv and Moscow also see South Africa as crucial in improving their relations with Africa. Ramani said: 'I'm not hearing too much about South Africa being an influential interlocutor.' He added that other countries of the Global South were playing a greater peace role, citing the United Arab Emirates, which he said had hoped to host Friday's summit between Trump and Putin. However, he also added that South Africa was probably doing its best to ensure that the voice of Africa was heard in the Ukraine peace process, and that this was important because the war had significant implications for food security, supply chains and many other things that impacted Africa's socioeconomic development so profoundly. DM
The Citizen
4 hours ago
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The Herald
8 hours ago
- The Herald
'Special day' in store for couple after home affairs fire ruins wedding plans
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