SowetanLIVE reports that a group of teachers from private schools in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, protested outside the offices of the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) in the Joburg CBD on Tuesday over the nonpayment of subsidies for months.
The teachers said they had not been paid for five months due to the department's failure to pay subsidies to four schools. They claimed they last received salaries in June. However, GDE spokesperson Steve Mabona said the schools – Sinqobile Intermediate, Siyaphambili Secondary, Sikhumbuzo Secondary and Vutomi Secondary – had not received subsidies because they had been placed under administration in October. “These schools have submitted fraudulent annual financial statements. Subsequently, the department has put them under administration,” said Mabona. The schools apparently responded on 24 November to a request to make representations on the findings of audits conducted by the department and a meeting was scheduled for Tuesday to consider their representations. But, the GDE was surprised when the management arrived with a group of protesters. Sinqobile principal Spiwe Mehlomakulu denied that the school had been placed under administration. Shihungasi Khoza, a director of both Vutomi and Sinqobile schools, said: “The department is refusing to release our subsidies and we use the very same subsidy to pay our teachers. We are here until they release our money or else these buildings will not work today. If they don’t do so today, tomorrow we will be back here.”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mpho Koka at SowetanLIVE
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