School blockaded over principal’s pension payout
HUNDREDS of pupils at Mvula Primary School in Nyanga were left stranded when angry parents blockaded the road adjacent to the school with dustbins and burning tyres yesterday.
They expressed their dissatisfaction with the provincial education department for not paying out a pension fund of more than 30 years to the principal, Florence Mdlamtshe.
Resident and parent Nosibusiso Malimke said if the department refused to engage amicably with the school governing body (SGB), it must take its resources and the building will be used as a recreational facility.
The SGB chairperson, Elliot Mbuzana, said numerous attempts to engage the education department had proved fruitless.
Mdlamtshe said: “I worked tirelessly to build the school from scratch, using my own money. “The department is kicking me out like a dog after I have sacrificed half my life building this school.
“Why is the department taking the resources that I have worked so hard to have?”
Mdlamtshe said she was expecting a pension fund payout for over 30 years of service.
The education department yesterday confirmed that it would pay principal Mdlamtshe a pension fund of five years’ service for the time she worked since it became a public school in 2012.
Mdlamtshe said she founded the school in 1985 as a private school and had been principal since.
Provincial Education Department spokesperson Paddy Attwell said the SGB insisted that Mdlamtshe, who retired last year, remain at the school as a caretaker principal while the department fills the post.
The school has a deputy principal who should be appointed as the acting principal, in line with policy, he said.
“Senior officials have discussed policy on retirement and acting appointments with the SGB, who have refused to accept these requirements.
“The SGB threatened disruption if the Western Cape Education Department did not meet their demands. Unfortunately, the pension of the former principal is based on only five years of government service, since the school became a public school,” he said.