Gauteng Health Tightens Payroll Controls to Protect Public Funds and Restore Accountability

The Gauteng Department of Health says it is strengthening internal controls to protect the public purse, improve payroll integrity and ensure that healthcare funds are used responsibly for frontline service delivery. The department confirmed that it is tightening labour relations processes, improving leave and incapacity management, implementing employee verification interventions and strengthening human resource oversight to prevent irregular payments and reduce system vulnerabilities. At present, four officials are on precautionary suspension with pay in matters linked to alleged misconduct, procurement irregularities, fraud and corruption investigations, as well as steps to prevent possible interference with witnesses and ongoing investigations. Gauteng Health said it is particularly concerned about employees being paid while not rendering services, and has introduced the Ziveze Campaign, an employee verification initiative designed to confirm that workers on the payroll are legitimate, accounted for and actively contributing to healthcare delivery. Through this process, the department identified people who were being paid but were not known to human resources at institutional level, leading to action to terminate irregular payments and remove affected individuals from the system. Healthcare institutions have also been reminded to properly apply leave and incapacity policies, while work is underway to automate parts of human resource management to improve data accuracy, oversight and ethical governance. The message from the department is clear: every rand lost to weak controls is a rand taken away from patients, clinics, hospitals and the communities that depend on public healthcare.