Jacquie Golding-Duffy
SABC staffers have to sign personally for their salary cheques after the corporation discovered that ex-employees were claiming salaries long after they had left the broadcaster.
Head of the SABC’s internal investigations unit, Andy Sello, was tight-lipped relaying a message via a colleague that he is ”too busy” to comment, although it is his department which is believed to have picked up on the fraud.
However, SABC television representative Don Seokane confirmed that employees are being approached to sign personally for their salary slips.
Seokane says it is ”routine” for personnel to provide proof of employment before receiving their salaries, especially since the corporation was involved in massive restructuring.
He says the screening process is being done in consultation with the SABC’s internal auditing department.
Staffers, however, argue that there is nothing routine about this exercise. It is believed that several ghost employees have been cashing in their salaries but no one at the corporation is willing to confirm or deny this.
Seokane says it is ”debatable whether the allegation is true or not”. No one is prepared to divulge how much has been misappropriated or how long it has been going on.