Finance minister Enoch Godongwana.
To enhance cross-government bulk purchasing systems designed to save costs, the state has allocated R285.3 million over the medium-term.
This process will start with the modernisation of the government payroll system, according to insights from National Treasury’s 2026 Budget Review document.
The high-level document is released in tandem with the 2026 National Budget tabled by finance minister Enoch Godongwana this afternoon.
It’s further highlighted that Treasury will shift R98.9 million from its budget over the medium-term to the office of the chief procurement officer to implement a national e-government procurement platform.
“This will digitise the procurement value chain using secure technology,” reads the document.
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South Africa’s public service accounts for 1.3 million of the country’s labour force, based on data from the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA).
Additionally, public administration and fiscal affairs account for 65.4% of public services expenditure.
The public service’s human resource processes, however, are paper-leaning, and littered with weaknesses that often lead to manipulation.
As a result, government departments as well as state entities have been subject to “ghost workers”. This phenomenon resulted in the state conducting a “ghost worker audit to identify and remove non-existent or ineligible individuals” on the public sector payroll.
In the same document, Treasury reveals the DPSA has begun verifying high-risk cases and developed a method that reduces the potential for employees to be flagged incorrectly as ghost workers due to administrative errors.
“The updated tests identified 4 323 high-risk employees requiring further verification. They will be verified using facial matching against the National Population Register and physical verification, including crosschecking results with the DPSA and Department of Basic Education ghost worker projects.
“The next phase of this project will integrate with the improvements to payroll systems and the rollout of a single sign-on for public servants.
“These changes will enable automated oversight, reduce irregularities and support more effective expenditure management.”
