Durban – Msunduzi Municipality deputy mayor Mxolisi Mkhize joined KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu at Sukuma Comprehensive High School to resolve several matters that have been bedevilling the school for a while after yet another protest where pupils blocked roads with burning tyres over water shortages on Monday, which had occurred due to non-payment to the Msunduzi Municipality.
Among other issues, the pupils also protested over broken infrastructure, alleging that teachers were also sabotaging each other and rendering the school ungovernable last week.
On Tuesday, the municipality said it was compelled to implement credit control measures in order to ensure that service delivery continues.
“A payment arrangement has been agreed upon between the municipality and the Department of Education. The water supply will be reconnected. Consumers are encouraged to keep their accounts up to date to avoid disconnections and if they are not able to do so, they are encouraged to approach the municipality to make payment arrangements,” the municipality said.
Earlier in the week, the IFP in the KZN legislature called for an urgent investigation into the state of financial affairs at school.
On Monday, the IFP demanded answers as to why the school was failing to settle its debt to the municipality.
IFP KZN Education spokesperson Thembeni Madlopha-Mthethwa said anyone found to be abusing school funds should be held accountable as the non-payment of debts was posing a negative impact on the pupils’ future.
“We further call for a wider investigation into the financial affairs of Section 21 schools that are failing to pay their debts every month. We have learnt that Sukuma Comprehensive High School’s issue is not an isolated case. Allegedly, even some schools in Durban are failing to pay their debts, which has resulted in the eThekwini Municipality cutting off their power supply,” said Madlopha-Mthethwa.
In June 2022, Mshengu met with the school’s school governing body (SGB) and agreed that the process of appointing the principal would be concluded within 21 days.
He further asked the SGB to deal with the issues of norms and standards since there were also issues of financial management.
Some of issues that were agreed on:
1. The district office must appoint an auditor to audit the financial records of the school, which it has failed to audit for the past two financial years.
2. Investigate the allegations that the school loaned a teacher an amount of R14 000 that he borrowed personally, which is still outstanding.
3. The post of the English teacher will be filled within the week.
Daily News