Probe into leaked college salaries

THE national department of higher education is investigating how a confidential document containing salaries of all staff members at the Buffalo City TVET College (BCC) was leaked to all – including students.

An e-mail containing a document detailing salary information of every staff member, was apparently mistakenly sent to all staff members and student representative council members earlier this year.

The e-mail sent out on May 9 was meant for one person, but apparently mistakenly distributed to all staff members, including some from other TVET colleges.

BCC staff members regarded the move by a senior wellness, labour and human resources development officer as negligence, disrespecting of staff members and “lack of due care in carrying out his duties”.

Staff members who spoke to the Dispatch on condition of anonymity, fearing victimisation, yesterday also claimed that there were salary disparities in the leaked document.

They claim some of the information contained incorrect job titles, and incorrect qualifications, while others had their experience and length of service with the institution wrongly captured.

A senior employee told the Dispatch this has impinged on their constitutional rights.

“Our confidential personal information is now out in the public arena. All staff and students now have access to this private information,” said the college employee.

A staff member has laid a formal complaint with the college principal Dharamchand Singh and the college governing council.

They also wrote to the department of higher education, asking them to investigate salary disparities and how the confidential document containing their salary information, made its way into the public domain.

Singh could not be reached at the time of writing yesterday.

The department of higher education spokeswoman Busiswa Nongogo referred queries to Madikwe Mabotha, a chief director responsible for TVET colleges who said he could not comment on the matter as he was “on holiday”. —