Johannesburg - A Durban and Mpumalanga principal have been kidnapped and told they would be killed if they returned to their jobs, City Press reported on Sunday.
This was allegedly part of efforts by the SA Democratic Teachers Union to influence the appointment of education staff for kickbacks.
Kaise Ngcobo, acting principal of Waterloo Primary in Verulam, Durban, was kidnapped at the school gates by three men on Friday morning and warned not to return to her post, the school's governing body said in a statement.
“Within three weeks and two days after the election (for head of the school), the acting principal was abducted and threatened not to return to her post as acting principal of the school,” the governing body said.
In a separate case, Bajabulile Mtshali, an acting principal at the WCCM Primary School in Ogies, Mpumalanga told the newspaper she was kidnapped last year, the night before she was to attend an interview for the principal position at her school.
Mtshali said the kidnapper tied her up with her jersey, drugged her, and left her in a forest.
“He told me that he had been paid to kill me so that I didn't get to become the principal... He said Sadtu officials had paid him R10,000.
“I didn't have the money, so he demanded my bank card, pin number and my phone,” she told the newspaper.
Police spokesman Brigadier Selvy Mohlala confirmed an arrest was made and a case opened.
“The docket was misplaced at some point, but it was reinstated at the Witbank Regional Court.”
Last week, City Press reported that President Jacob Zuma approved the establishment of a judicial commission of inquiry to probe the allegations of a job promotions racket by Sadtu members.
Union members were allegedly selling principal and deputy principal positions at schools for upwards of R30,000 each.
Sadtu general secretary Mugwena Maluleke told City Press:
“People are doing these things individually...abusing the union's name.” - Sapa