BusinessLive reports that Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane has suspended the head of the department of education, Naledi Mbude, over the delay in delivering textbooks and the forfeiture of a R200m grant meant for school infrastructure.

Mabuyane informed Mbude, in a letter dated 5 April, that she had been suspended on full pay “as a precautionary measure pending investigations at the department of education”. This followed an order by the High Court in Makhanda on 15 March instructing the department to ensure all pupils attending public schools in the province be provided with textbooks and stationery by the end of March. Pupils have not been provided with top-up textbooks since schools reopened in January. Top-up textbooks are used to replace those lost, damaged or stolen. A snap survey of 400 schools in the province by the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA revealed that 113 of those that responded by last Friday had not received textbooks. At least 26 of the 115 schools that did receive learning material complained about not being supplied with the correct quantity. The department’s spokesperson, Mali Mtima, said that up until Tuesday, 4,855 of 4,932 schools had been supplied with top-up textbooks. “Deliveries have reached 98.4% with 77 schools remaining,” he said. In his suspension letter, Mabuyane informed Mbude that he had considered her representations about the matter but was not convinced that her continued presence in the department “will not hinder the investigation”.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Prega Govender at BusinessLive

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