Picture: North West MEC for Education, Viola Motsumi
By OBAKENG MAJE
12 March 2026- The embattled North West Department of Education is under scrutiny after the AG’s findings uncover a staff debt book of more than R100 million, which includes payments to individuals who had resigned, retired, or passed away. It is alleged that such payments have occurred because there was a continuous breakdown in payroll verification, HR controls, and supervisory oversight.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) spokesperson on Education in North West, Wolfgang Wallhorn said these incidents are not isolated errors. Wallhorn said they represent a systemic governance collapse that placed public funds at serious risk.
“We are alarmed by the material irregularity uncovered by the Auditor General (AG) in the North West Department of Education’s payroll system, a major financial scandal that exposes deep-rooted failures in internal controls, financial oversight and consequence management.
“While the department has now introduced the Automated Leave and Termination Management System (ALTMS) to improve termination tracking and prevent future overpayments, the DA stresses that systems alone do not remediate accountability failures,” he said.
Wallhorn further said ALTMS will have to be taken through stringent live tests to assess effectiveness in practice to ensure similar incidents cannot occur again. He added that equally concerning is the continued lack of clarity around disciplinary and consequence management processes.
“The public deserves clarity as to who authorised these payments, who disregarded warning signs, and what actions have been taken against responsible officials. Without visible and credible disciplinary outcomes, any reform measures risk being meaningless.
“The DA therefore insists that the department submit regular, detailed progress reports to the Portfolio Committee covering investigations, recovery of funds, disciplinary proceedings, and system control improvements,” said Wallhorn.
He said these reports will determine the next oversight steps. Wallhorn said the residents of North West deserve assurance that public money is protected, that negligence is punished, and that this payroll scandal is resolved with full transparency and accountability.
“The DA will continue to pursue this matter until every responsible party is identified and every recoverable rand is accounted for,” he said.
Meanwhile, the North West Department spokesperson, Vuyo Mantshule said: “The department is aware of the Material Irregularity (MI) 01 of 2022/23, which was formally raised by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) on 31 July 2023. This MI relates to the reported staff debts identified in the department’s financial statements.
“The Auditor-General’s Material Irregularity (MI) arises directly from disclosures made by the North West Department of Education in its 2022/23 annual financial statements. The department proactively reported staff debts as part of its statutory financial reporting obligations, demonstrating transparency and adherence to financial reporting requirements.”
Mantshule said the staff debts stem from delayed terminations and resignations that occurred shortly after salary runs. He said at the time, these processes were managed manually, which contributed to timing gaps and overpayments.
“The department acknowledges that these historical procedural limitations played a role in the accumulation of staff debts and steps have been taken to strengthen termination controls to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
“The department emphasizes that these delayed terminations were isolated incidents, primarily resulting from the limitations of manual processes in place at the time,” said Mantshule.
He said these cases do not reflect systemic wrongdoing, but rather procedural shortcomings that have since been addressed through improvements and use of technology.
He said the department confirms that these incidents do not represent a systemic governance collapse. Mantshule said while the identified staff debts highlight areas where manual processes created vulnerabilities, they are isolated cases and do not reflect a broader failure in the department’s governance structures or oversight mechanism.
The Guardian 