Teachers’ ‘bizarre’ claims

TEACHERS at Durban’s George Campbell School of Technology allegedly siphoned funds using irregular and, in some cases, bizarre “incentive” claims.

Now parents are threatening to stop paying fees until a forensic audit of the alleged wasteful expenditure is concluded.

School governing body (SGB) chairperson Satish Mohun confirmed an audit was under way and said it had not yet revealed any startling irregularities.

“I have not seen documents pertaining to financial irregularities, and the audit is 90% complete.”

But many questions are being asked by parents, including former and present members of the SGB, some of whom allege as much as R1million could have been wasted on questionable claims, top-ups and teacher allowances last year.

A current SGB member said while there were instances of teachers submitting legitimate claims for coaching sport and after-hours tuition, he suspected most of the “incentive” claims were dubious.

He said it was ridiculous that teachers were being paid extra for standard duties such as placing stationery orders, typing letters to parents, overseeing blood donation drives in school hours and updating the school’s social media pages.

The Sunday Tribune has learned that one teacher submitted an incentive claim of R8 000 for various tasks including making name tags for Grade 12 exams and seating plans for parent-teacher meetings.

Another was paid R6 000 for letting builders in and out of the premises at weekends, teaching extra classes and “trying to do three jobs at one time”.

A whistle-blower said instead of paying out irregular claims, the wasted funds could have been put to better use upgrading facilities such as the workshops and toilets, which were reportedly in a bad condition.

The whistle-blower said parents paid R28 000 a year to send their children to the school and expected transparency in the use of funds.

George Campbell is a 55-year-old school specialising in technical training and has a good reputation in this field.

An alumnus, who was among parents who called for an audit, said concern about wasteful expenditure emerged last year.

He said the alleged irregularities were uncovered after a former SGB treasurer had analysed its financial statements.

The former treasurer, who asked not to be named, told the Sunday Tribune he was bound by a confidentiality clause and could not publicly comment.

But the parent, in addition to calling for an audit, has lodged a complaint with the national anti-corruption hotline.

Access

“All we want is transparency and accountability at the school.

“We want parents to be able to have access to the school’s financial records.”

Mugwena Maluleke, national general secretary of the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union, said it had called for the so-called “incentive programme” to be regulated to avoid corruption.

“Some former Model C schools are still governed under an old system that has these programmes in place. There have been growing calls to have this regulated,” Maluleke said.

“When all teachers work under a Department of Education, why should teachers from poorer schools have to work hard for no incentive while rich schools can afford to run such programmes and abuse them?” he asked.

He said if teachers made claims which fell within their job descriptions, this was a cause for concern.

“Teachers are allowed to make claims if they go on sporting events which are out of working hours, but making claims like those alleged to have been made at George Campbell is unacceptable.”

Last year, the school’s reputation came under fire during a racism debacle in which black pupils alleged that they had been called monkeys and the K-word by teachers.

Two teachers were subsequently suspended, and the school’s then principal, Dirk Plug, later resigned.

The Kwazulu-natal Department of Education spokesperson, Sihle Mlotshwa, said the department was unaware of the financial irregularity issues at the school and that a representative would visit the school tomorrow.

“However, we can confirm that such an incentive programme has never existed within the Department of Education,” he said.