WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-01-09 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
[That ridiculous fool who runs education and speaks with her British accent… Her stupid dept is run by clowns. Jan]
By Angelique Serrao
The provincial government has replaced the entire Gauteng department of education Learner Support Material unit after accusations of price-fixing and corruption.
Gauteng MEC for education Angie Motshekga announced on Tuesday that at least three members had been fired and the rest were under investigation after The Star uncovered a scam related to textbooks and stationery.
Last year, The Star revealed how schools had been charged outrageous amounts for text-books and stationery – as much as R13,87 for a R4,69 pencil – and many had been given unwanted materials they had no choice but to accept.
| ‘I find the whole thing very strange’ |
The materials were delivered to the schools via EduSolutions, an outsourced company which received a contract from the GDE in 2002.
The MEC said on Tuesday there had been a further delay getting orders to schools and only 70 percent of all textbooks would be in schools on Wednesday morning, because the department had had to totally restaff its Learner Support Material unit.
She promised that all stationery had been delivered.
“We have faced a number of problems as a department, which were all internal problems and were not due to the service provider (EduSolutions),” said Motshekga.
The MEC said printers were working overtime to ensure all books would be delivered by the end of January.
| ‘So who do we believe?’ |
“We had to clean up this unit,” Motshekga said. “We found there were problems where schools were allowed for instance to order one book which cost R30 000.
“We had to root out that problem. There was also a problem of price-fixing in our department, which could only have been done for corrupt purposes.”
“We needed a whole new team, which did delay us, but we felt it was necessary,” she said.
Reactions to her decision were varied, but most were in favour of her rooting out corruption.
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) said it supported the MEC in her decision to fire staff members.
“We give the MEC 101 percent support for her decision, but we will continue to request that she investigate the service providers,” Sadtu spokesperson Ronald Nyathi said.
Kathy Callaghan from the Governors’ Alliance said it was a good sign, but she felt that planning for textbook delivery should have been made far in advance, because schools would suffer as a result.
“We need better preparedness and (more) discussion with schools,” she said.
“Because at the end of the day, the same problem happens every single year with the late delivery of books.”
Soweto School Governing Association spokesperson Marks Ramasike said parents wanted more answers from the MEC on the investigations.
“I find the whole thing very strange,” he said.
“The people who were fired were the same people who were giving us assurances at the end of last year that all books would be in schools by January 9.
“So who do we believe?
“We need more explanations about what is happening.”