Probe into schools over use of funds
Follows Hawks’ arrest of seven suspects
MORE and more school governing body (SGB) officials and school staff are being caught misappropriating and mismanaging funds.
The Public Service Commission’s (PSC) Leonardo Goosen said thus far this year, they have been dealing with five complaints in respect of Western Cape schools – three matters have been finalised and two remain outstanding.
This comes after last month’s arrests by the Hawks, where seven suspects – including a former SGB chairperson, a director of a security company and the acting principal of the Western Cape Sports School – were nabbed after allegedy committing fraud and corrupt acts.
Goosen said their process was that once reports have been finalised by a panel of PSC commissioners, they were submitted to the Education MEC and, if necessary, the legislature. Therefore, they were unable to name the schools involved until that process had been brought to finality.
Goosen said many of the complaints related to decisions and practices in SGBs.
He said that laying the blame at the door of SGBs masked the role of principals, who, in many instances, were in a position to “manipulate” the decision-making by SGBs. “Serious consideration needs to be given by both the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) and the national department regarding regulation of this area, to avoid ethical problems,” said Goosen.
He said, currently, it was possible for a school to appoint family members of a principal – all that was required was that the principal be recused from the process.
“This is not conducive to building an environment where there are appropriate control measures, especially where a great amount of power is concentrated in the hands of a principal, who ought to be playing a fiduciary role,” said Goosen.
WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said fraud and corruption represented significant potential risks to the department’s assets and could negatively impact on service delivery and the department’s reputation.
Hammond said the Western Cape government had adopted an anti-fraud and corruption strategy.
“In line with this strategy, the department is committed to zero-tolerance with regard to corrupt, fraud, or any other criminal activities,” she said.
ANC provincial spokesperson on education Khalid Sayed said the standing committee on education in the legislature will be meeting today to receive the reports officially and, hopefully, hear a presentation by the PSC on alleged fraud and corruption in schools.
Federation of Governing Bodies of SA Schools deputy chief executive Jaco Deacon said it was shocking that adults would steal from children.
Deacon said the SGBs must have checks and balances in place to govern properly, and even more so for financial management.
“The financial committee should play an active role in this oversight and it should never happen that the principal and chairperson are in control.
“Parents have a voice and they should attend the annual general meetings, and scrutinise the budget before approving it – ask the difficult questions and demand answers,” he said.