The provincial government today confirmed a massive drop between January and September of more than 10 000 from the PERSAL system of non-permanent employees appointed on Salary Level 0.

The Department of Public Works and Roads is said to have accounted for the biggest drop due to contracts for Expanded Public Works (EPWP) beneficiaries which have expired.

Non-permanent employees, often mistook to be ``Ghost employees'' are appointed without occupying a post on the organizational structure. However their appointments are classified as either Periodic Remuneration or Abnormal Appointments.

Persons employed in these legislated categories are mainly for programmes such as Expanded Public Works Programmer, Internships, Learnerships, Student Nurses and Examination Markers.
“ We are therefore confirming that these are not “ghost employees”, but non-permanent employees who are by procedure, appointed on Salary Level 0,'' Dr Keneilwe Sebego, the Director General of the province explained.

Addressing a joint media conference with Premier Supra Mahumapelo in Mahikeng, she said the provincial government would however intensively manage the incidence of Salary Level 0 appointments, coordinate the head-count project across departments, as this process will also indicate the extent to which ``ghost employees'' exist in the Provincial Government.

The investigation confirmed the initial number of employees appointed as non-permanent had actually dropped from 37 515 to 26 759.

Sebego said the appointments were on Salary Level 0(zero) which is used to capture non-permanent employees on the PERSAL system.

“These are employees that are appointed without occupying a post on the organizational structure, and their appointments are classified as either Periodic Remuneration or Abnormal Appointments”, confirmed Sebego.

“We can confirm that by September this year, the system showed a total of 10 756 non-permanent employees, this from the 37 515 employees in January. The Provincial Department of Public Works and Roads accounts for the most reduction because most EPWP contracts have expired”, Sebego shared.

Sebego said that the Office of the Premier has as part of its Performance Monitoring, Evaluation and Intervention function worked together with the Department of Finance which is the custodian of the PERSAL System, to investigate the incidence of non-permanent employees, who were in the past reported on the media as “ghost employees”.