Pupils pay price for education’s illicit collusion

South Africa has comprehensive legislation on the management of public funds, particularly with regard to public procurement. The Public Finance Management Act sets out procedures for efficient and effective management of all revenue, expenditure, assets and liabilities. Rules and regulations around public procurement are very specific. Non-compliance can result in severe penalties, including imprisonment.

The education department has been a serial offender over the years when it comes to procurement mischief. The Dispatch this week again revealed how education department employees entrusted with procurement of services have been working with companies to defraud the department. The modus operandi seems to be a simple one of paying service providers for services that were never rendered.

But how on earth does this happen and why does it take a forensic investigation to ferret it out?

The department is obliged by the PFMA to have checks and balances in place. No system is foolproof, but it should at least prevent money being paid out in return for nothing at all.

The department has confirmed that two midlevel managers have been suspended. Department head Themba Kojana needs to account for how this happened and what he intends to do to plug the holes that allowed it.

These sorts of crimes are not victimless, especially when it comes to the education department. The victims are our schoolchildren who drown in pit toilets, or get injured when falling through rotten floorboards of decrepit classrooms because the money intended to fix these issues has been misappropriated.

Part of the problem is that these actions seldom have consequences. Kojana has promised not only that the managers will face disciplinary action, but also that the service providers will be blacklisted.

That is not enough. There must be criminal action taken. This crime would be exacerbated if, as suggested by the department, the managers received any form of kickback, as this would elevate it to a corrupt enterprise.

Kojana needs to deliver on his promise that he will root out this sort of illicit collusion. There are too many lost generations of children paying the price for these corrupt practices.

No system is foolproof, but it should at least prevent money being paid out in return for nothing