NO ‘GHOST’ EMPLOYEES IN ARMY?

Sir,

If government is to be taken seriously in its attempts to weed out salary payments to ghost employees in all sectors, then the army should not be exempted from this exercise. As the army dips from the same wage bill that is said to be bloated, should there be no question as regards to whether their numbers justify the risk the country faces and the tasks they perform like other such forces, so that it is not seen as a fattening ranch? This goes alongside the existence of such personnel as we are paying.

Military

If the military, which has shown its propensity to be defiant even to court orders and getting away with it, remains defiant to a probe, then Parliament has to step up to the plate and demand that there be an inspection as to whether indeed the public funds are paying persons in the military who exist or some only exist through the payment of their salaries. As members of civil society we have to be loud in our calls for transparency all round in this regard. We cannot have any sacred cows at this demanding stage of our fiscal crisis.

Salary

Laba laba phetse temphi besabani ngoba phela if there are no salary payments to ghost employees, then there is nothing for them to fear. They would be setting a good example to other departments kutsi lentfo isentshetwa njani. Kwesaba kuphenywa just kutsi kuholelwa bantfu laba philako yini, kusi tshela lokunye tsine. Let them not use the all too broad scare tactics of ‘national security’. National security I would argue, is more threatened when public funds are depleted by wastage to pay non-existent employees and actually have these salaries withdrawn by persons who have never set foot at work.

No one is asking that we be told how many soldiers we have - they may be too many when compared to the real needs of the country. All we ask is for it to be determined whether we are paying for people who actually report for duty.

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