Education
With regard to a media report (IOL) on 9 March 2021 regarding the retirement of the Principal of the Grove Primary School:
(1) Whether she can provide an update regarding the South African Council of Educators (SACE) disciplinary hearing that was scheduled for 25 March 2020; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) whether the she can provide reasons why her Department did not inform the SACE of the findings against the Principal of the Grove Primary School after her Department’s disciplinary process had been concluded;
(3) whether her Department recommended a full forensic investigation into the financial affairs of the school and the suspension of the Principal with pay pending that investigation; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(4) how did her Department arrive at the amount of money that was to be recovered from the Principal, as mentioned in summons 16290/2019 at Wynberg Magistrate’s Court;
Given that the amounts related to the summons do not account for the illegal off-budget amounts paid to the Principal in 2016 or 2017, which compounded in subsequent years, as the correction was never made to the actual budget-approved increase in 2017:
(5) whether she can provide an explanation for this oversight in calculating the correct amount that was illegally paid to and received by the Principal of the Grove Primary School; if so, what are the relevant details;
(6) whether this oversight will be corrected and a proper forensic investigation be conducted to determine the depth of the Principal’s illegal and possibly fraudulent conduct; if so, what are the relevant details;
(7) whether she and her Department will support the SACE case against the Principal for financial mismanagement; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(8) whether she can provide an update regarding the instruction to the State Attorney to recover the funds; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
(1) No. The South African Council for Educators (SACE) is an independent entity.
(2) No, we cannot provide such reasons because the WCED did report the matter to SACE on 1 August 2019 in terms of section 26 of the Employment of Educators Act.
(3) The Provincial Forensic Services are mandated to investigate fraud matters. Non-compliance matters are addressed by the WCED.
Suspensions are governed by Schedule 2, item 6 of the Employment of Educators Act. The WCED believed the principal’s presence at school would not jeopardise the investigation or endanger the well-being or safety of any person at the workplace. We are still of the opinion that the presence of the principal did not have any negative impact.
(4) The recovery amount was determined by subtracting the amount approved by the Department from the amount actually paid out by the school.
(5) There was no oversight – the amount being sought was calculated as per (4) above.
(6) There was no oversight – the amount being sought was calculated as per (4) above.
(7) The WCED reported the matter to SACE. We will co-operate where required.
(8) This matter is currently sub judice and therefore we cannot comment further at this stage.
