The Citizen reports that the largely Afrikaner teachers’ union, the Suid-Afrikaanse Onderwyser Unie (SAOU), has been rocked by allegations of fraud, corruption and money laundering involving its top leadership.  

In police statements to the Hawks, concerned members have alleged there was an elaborate scheme to fleece the union via dubious entities to which union funds were being channeled in the form of loans, rent and management fees.  The entities are Financial Services of South Africa (Finsa), TO Onderlinge Maatskappy (Toom) and the SA Education Foundation (SAEF), in respect of which the union’s top executives are alleged to be the directors.  In one of the statements, a member questioned loans totalling more than R49.8 million allegedly paid from SAEF to Toom and Finsa.  Also of concern was that the union was renting offices in Garsfontein, Pretoria, from SAEF, although the building originally belonged to the Transvaalse Onderwyvereniging, which later became SAOU.  Hawks spokesperson Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu confirmed that the unit was investigating SAOU for alleged fraud, corruption, and contravention of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act.  Louw Erasmus, SAOU’s lawyer, said they were not aware of any Hawks’ investigation.

• Read the full original of this report by Sipho Mabena at The Citizen

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