Ghosts of ‘jobs for pals’ haunt SA

While there will be howls of outrage about the news that Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula’s brother has been exposed as a “ghost worker” – paid but doing no work – let’s not get too harsh on Mbaks.

Before we are accused of being Mbalula groupies, let’s point out that it would be unfair to single out the minister for our opprobrium because milking taxpayers is standard operating procedure throughout the ANC.

Was it not one of the party’s highest-ranking cadres, Smuts Ngonyama, who summed up the benefits of ANC membership back in 2004, by saying: “I didn’t join the struggle to be poor”?

The cadre deployment at the Mangaung metro, which has been so run into the ground since 1994 that it was recently placed under central government supervision, is, nevertheless, still breathtaking to behold, such is its implied dismissal of capability as a hiring criterion.

And that is even before the reality that the ghost workers were ushered in to feed at the taxpayer trough.

Minister Mbalula himself, in one of his many cameo media appearances, made much of the 3 000 ghost workers found on the payrolls on the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa … and how those salaries had been terminated, apparently without any complaints.

Investigations in Mangaung show that employment in the municipality appears to be set aside for ANC members in good standing and those who, like Mbalula’s brother, Jabu, might be looking for another cushy number. Jabu was previously an ambassador – often a comrades’ comfy retirement home.

We all know only too well that it is not just Mangaung, or the Free State, cursed by “jobs for pals”.

All around us, the results are clear to see: broken cities and towns, collapsed state-owned enterprises, moribund government departments. Will it ever change?

Our assessment: don’t hold your breath.