Ziwaphi Relentless quest for the truth
Mpumalanga education officials are in hot water after it was discovered schools they claimed had been built don’t even exist.
A visibly upset Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) chairperson, Fish Mahlalela, demanded answers from education officials appearing before the watchdog at the provincial legislature in Nelspruit on Tuesday.
“Here is a report with annexures in front of us showing us schools have been completed. Some of these schools don’t even exist,” said Mahlalela, demanding head of department (HOD) Mahlasedi Mhlabane explain.
He said he stayed up late on Monday night trying to make sense of the department’s report.
“It doesn’t make any sense. I come from the area you claim to have built a school in and I know there’s only a tree and a board with the name of the school there,” he said.
The school he was referring to is KaMhlushwa primary school near Malalane, which was recorded as a completed project in the annexure the department presented to SCOPA.
Mahlalela also pointed out that another two schools reported to have been completed, Langeloop and Boschfontein secondary schools, also near Malalane, didn’t exist.
He said he made several phone calls on Monday and quickly discovered the schools hadn’t been built.
“You can’t bring information to provincial parliament that is misleading. We asked you to bring reports, but the schools you claim to have completed don’t even have a foundation yet,” said Mahlalela.
He said it was also strange that the report indicated money had already been spent building schools that didn’t exist.
SCOPA member, William Lubisi, lambasted the officials further, demanding they respect the committee.
“I am also looking at the schools you claim to have completed. Some of them were completed a long time ago, as far back as 1996,” said Lubisi.
He said it was clear the officials had drafted the reports to try and make the committee believe they had done their job.
“We need a full explanation of these lies,” he said.
A visibly shaken Mhlabane denied any responsibility for the discrepancies in the report.
“I don’t know how the report can indicate a project is complete when there’s no school. The information that we have is clearly incorrect,” she said.
In a face-saving effort, Mhlabane shifted the blame onto the public works department, saying they were responsible for implementing education department infrastructure projects.
“We will go back to public works and request clarity and provide the correct information,” said Mhlabane.
She also criticised public works for failing to sign a service level agreement with the education department. She said the unsigned agreement had been with public works since May last year.
Public works department will appear before SCOPA on September 18 where they will have to respond to questions from the committee.
