The Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) says several provincial education departments have started taking action after a nationwide verification exercise uncovered more than 22 000 employee records that did not match government payroll data.
The discrepancies have raised concerns about possible payroll irregularities within the education sector.
The ELRC says the findings do not automatically indicate the existence of ghost workers, but they warrant further investigation.
ELRC spokesperson Bernice Loxton says the council is treating the matter as urgent.
“The report does not conclude that these are ghost employees. These mismatches could be caused by administrative errors, data capture mistakes, temporary appointments or delays in updating systems. But we do acknowledge that this is a significant number and it requires urgent investigation.”
The council says if investigations uncover evidence of irregularities or fraud, the relevant authorities will be involved.
Provincial education departments are now expected to verify the affected records and determine the causes of the mismatches.
More than 22 000 teachers mismatch payroll:
