Members of Parliament have called on the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to urgently investigate and prosecute those implicated in an alleged E11.9 million overtime fraud scheme uncovered at the Ministry of Education and Training.
The calls were made during proceedings of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), where Principal Secretary (PS) Naniki Mnisi presented details of what she described as a sophisticated syndicate involving drivers and senior government officials who allegedly looted millions of Emalangeni from public coffers over several years.
Mnisi told the committee that the fraudulent scheme came to light shortly after she assumed office in 2023. She explained that she became suspicious after noticing that the ministry’s salary expenditure continued to rise despite there being no significant increase in staff numbers.
“When I arrived at the ministry, I noticed there was an area where salaries kept increasing even though we had not hired additional staff or implemented salary increases,” she said.
The PS said further investigations revealed that some drivers were receiving unusually large payments that could not be justified through legitimate overtime claims. According to Mnisi, when she confronted some of the drivers, they informed individuals allegedly involved in the scheme, who then criticised her for probing into the matter.
She described the operation as “a whole circus”, alleging that it involved officials within the government payroll system and Treasury.
Mnisi told the PAC that one of the key findings was that an individual within Treasury would allegedly process fraudulent claims and subsequently erase evidence of the transactions to avoid detection.
According to her account, drivers would receive large sums of money in their personal bank accounts, sometimes as much as E40 000 at a time, before withdrawing the funds and handing them over to the alleged masterminds of the scheme.
“The money would then be distributed among members of the syndicate,” she said.
She explained that the drivers were not necessarily the masterminds but were being used by more senior officials. In return for their participation, the drivers allegedly received a percentage of the fraudulently acquired funds.
Mnisi revealed that some drivers had deposits ranging from tens of thousands of Emalangeni to as much as E800 000 made into their accounts.
She said investigations indicated that participating drivers would withdraw the money and surrender it to ring leaders, while retaining approximately 25 percent as compensation for their role in the operation.
However, not all drivers agreed to participate.
The PS said some employees refused to become involved in the scheme and kept the funds in their accounts, expressing willingness to return the money once the irregularities were uncovered.
In one tragic incident, Mnisi said a driver reportedly died from shock after learning that he would be required to repay money that had been deposited into his account through the fraudulent scheme.
The alleged fraud extended beyond overtime claims, according to Mnisi.
She informed the PAC that investigations had also uncovered irregularities within the ministry’s fuel management system, where members of the syndicate allegedly stole hundreds of litres of fuel which were then sold for personal gain.
Mnisi added that her efforts to expose and dismantle the operation had made her many enemies within the ministry.
She expressed concern about what the findings revealed regarding the vulnerability of government payroll systems.
“It appears to be easy to manipulate the government payroll,” she said.
The PS further disclosed that she had already involved the police to conduct criminal investigations into the matter alongside the ministry’s internal inquiries.
PAC members reacted strongly to the revelations, with several legislators expressing frustration over what they described as a recurring pattern of public funds being looted without meaningful consequences for those responsible.
PAC Chairperson Madala Mhlanga said it was disheartening that individuals implicated in major corruption scandals often evade prosecution.
“What is sad is that the people who have done this will not be prosecuted and the consequences they face are often minimal,” he said.
Mhlanga also expressed concern that disciplinary proceedings could be delayed or frustrated through legal challenges.
He suggested that once the Civil Service Commission begins handling the matter, some of the implicated officials may seek court intervention to avoid accountability.
Members of the committee urged the Anti-Corruption Commission to take a leading role in ensuring that all those involved are identified and brought before the courts.
Several MPs lamented what they described as widespread looting of public funds across government institutions, saying corruption appeared to be occurring unchecked.
Some questioned how the country had managed to remain functional despite repeated reports of financial misconduct involving substantial amounts of taxpayer money.
“It is surprising that the country has not collapsed considering the scale of looting that continues to be uncovered,” one MP remarked during the proceedings.
Legislators further argued that individuals with financial resources often appeared able to avoid accountability, while ordinary citizens faced the full force of the law.
Some MPs also suggested that the corruption uncovered by Mnisi may represent only a fraction of the irregularities within the ministry, arguing that the extent of the problem could be much larger than currently known.
The investigation remains ongoing, with authorities working to determine the full scope of the alleged fraud scheme, which is believed to have operated for approximately five years and resulted in losses of about E11.9 million in taxpayer funds. The ACC and police are now expected to come under increasing pressure to ensure that those responsible are held accountable and that stolen funds are recovered.
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