Johannesburg - A Johannesburg independent school has allegedly blown more than R2.5 million in just one year on irregular expenditure on rent, salaries for teachers not employed by the school, and loans to teachers and private individuals.
The rent was paid on numerous buildings, while the salaries were paid to teachers of a neighbouring special school.
This was revealed in a damning forensic report into the affairs of Amsai Primary School in Orange Farm, south of Joburg.
The institution is registered as an independent school and is partly funded by the Gauteng Department of Education.
The provincial department had allocated R10m to the school in 2014, which is the year when the alleged theft occurred.
The report was presented to the Gauteng Legislature’s portfolio committee on education, under chairman Joe Mpisi. He wants criminal and civil actions to be taken against the culprits swiftly to recover the money.
The school has an enrolment of more than 1 400 pupils, who include Grade R pupils. The smooth running of the school has been allegedly severely affected by feuds between two factions wanting to control the school’s financial affairs.
The report revealed that between April 2014 and March 2015, Amsai Primary School’s management were allegedly responsible for the theft and misappropriation of school funds.
On the theft and misappropriation of funds, the report found that several transactions were made without the authorisation of the board of directors.
The report states that funds were transferred from Amsai Primary’s account into the personal accounts of various sources to the tune of almost R493 000.
“Loans were made to some individuals, and some of those loans have not yet been paid. Salary expenses amounting to R236 628 were paid to officials employed by (a neighbouring special school).
“Some of the transactions cannot be clearly accounted for, and we are thus unable to determine if this amount was spent on school related activities or not,” the report says.
It further says the school was paying rent of R100 000 while also being responsible for the maintenance and renovation expenses on buildings even when the school was a “tenant” on the property.
In more damning evidence against the school management, the report found that the school had six teachers who were not registered with the South African Council of Educators (Sace), as required by law.
“Eight of the teachers at Amsai, who are foreigners, have not complied with the requirements of Sace to provide some documents required for foreign educations. These documents consist of a special police clearance and a work permit.”
“The principal has been listed as a suspect in the current probe of the affairs at the school,” according to the report.
The Star