Chief director suspended over SA students fiasco in Russia

A CHIEF director within the Mpumalanga Education Department has been suspended over a series of complex financial violations that resulted in local students enrolled at Russian universities facing expulsion and eviction from their accommodation facilities.

The suspension follows a provincial delegation’s visit to the Russian Federation led by Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-tsipane, tasked with looking into the long-standing matter.

Provincial Education spokesperson Gerald Sambo said the chief director was placed on precautionary suspension while the government investigated the matter.

“Once the investigation is concluded, the premier or MEC will make pronouncements, and if the chief director did not violate any laws, the suspension will be lifted,” Sambo said.

According to Mtshweni-tsipane, her visit to Russia uncovered a series of complex events that led to the situation.

She said the student exchange programme involved a provincially-procured company to manage 221 students enrolled at 11 Russian institutions of higher learning.

The students are studying aviation, engineering, medicine and information technology.

The premier said they found there was also an agency in Russia that dealt with the management of the Mpumalanga students, which resulted in the bloating of rates and invoices.

“That agency went to the universities and said ‘we will get you students from foreign countries who want to study here in Russia’. They then entered into contracts with universities in Russia.

“The students from our province were then taken over by the agency, with whom we had no contract. They took over the process and handed the students over to the universities. From time to time, the university would bill them and they would pay the invoices,” said Mtshweni-tsipane.

“Upon receipt of the invoices, the agency would then generate their own invoices in their own name instead of taking the original invoices (from the universities) and attaching their management fee.

“That has been a problem for us, which was also raised by the auditor-general. When you compare the fee structures from the various universities, there are discrepancies,” she said.

The premier added that the amounts charged differed vastly from verified rates.

“The money that we are paying is far higher than what you could find if you compare the going rate on the internet in terms of the fees. We asked the universities to give us their invoices and the academic records of the students, but they were not able to come to the fore.

“We went on this trip to ascertain what was going on. These children were phoning day in and day out to say that they were being evicted from their residential areas. Some of the students were no longer at the hostels that we were paying for. They were placed in private apartments, and obviously we could not get the fee structures.”

Mtshweni-tsipane and her delegation also visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Higher Education in Russia.

“We discussed the challenges that we were facing …We had fruitful interactions with them and they indicated that they would do everything in their power to assist us because they understood our plight.

“They understood that the universities must furnish us with their invoices because the universities must be doing that as opposed to a third party. The universities are under no circumstances contracted to any private person to manage their affairs,” Mtshweni-tsipane said.

The premier said when they met with the Russian agency they were told that they had no contract with the provincial government but with the students and their parents.

DA provincial leader Jane Sithole said the party welcomed the suspension of the chief director.

“Over the past few months, these students have been pleading for help as they revealed that their accommodation, tuition fees and meal allowances were not taken care of. Despite the department downplaying the seriousness of the matter, it has now emerged that there was no agreement with the placement agency,” Sithole said.

Once the investigation is concluded, the premier or MEC will make pronouncements, and if the chief director did not violate any laws, the suspension will be lifted

GERALD SAMBO Spokesperson