Education
With regard to the recovery of funds illegally paid to a certain person, the former principal of the Grove Primary School, whose name has been furnished to her Department for the purpose of her reply:
(1) Whether a full forensic investigation was conducted into the financial affairs of the school as recommended by the investigators; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) whether there is any form of protection that teachers facing allegations of corruption and maladministration enjoy from WCED policies; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(3) (a) what are the full details of all the actions taken by her Department to recover the funds that are still in possession of this person and (b) what (i) is the total amount of funds that have been recuperated to date and (ii) are the measures put in place to prevent further corruption by principals at schools in the province;
(4) (a) what are the details of the negotiations to recover the funds from this person and (b) what is the timeline to recover the funds that was illegally paid to her;
(5) whether the matter of financial mismanagement and misconduct was reported to the South African Council of Educators after the disciplinary process was concluded by the WCED; if so, (a) what are the relevant details and (b) when was it reported?
My department has informed me of the following:
(1) No, a full forensic investigation was not conducted – see reply to Question 6(3) of 9 April 2021.
(2) No, no teachers facing allegations of corruption and maladministration enjoy protection from WCED policies. All teachers receive the same treatment when allegations are lodged or levelled against them.
(3) (a) The WCED gave an instruction to the State Attorney to recover the funds, as they act on our behalf. A summons was issued out of the Wynberg Magistrates Court. The matter is currently sub judice and therefore we cannot comment further at this stage.
(b) (i) See (a) above.
(ii) Yes, there are measures in place to prevent fraud and corruption at schools (noting that in this particular case, fraud was not detected).
(4) See response to question in (3)(a) above.
(5) As stated in the response to the member’s question 6 of 9 April 2021, the matter was reported to SACE in terms of Section 26 of the Employment of Educators Act on 1 August 2019.
