Durban - “Pay back the money!” say opposition parties in KwaZulu-Natal to the former Hopeville Primary School (Phoenix) teacher who pocketed R519 420 during her 1 522 days’ unlawful sick leave.
Despite being found guilty on falsifying a doctor’s note, Theresa Naicker was redeployed to the human resources division where she also reported for duty for only two days before going on “permanent sick leave”.
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This was contained in Education MEC Mthandeni Dlungwane’s reply to a DA question in the provincial legislature about Naicker’s case.
The DA’s Dr Rishigen Viranna said: “On principle, she must pay back the money. But we are doing our investigation to ascertain when she started the unlawful sick leave so that she could pay back the money she earned starting from that point.”
He said they were still consulting with legal advisers on whether they should press fraud charges against Naicker.
The DA also wanted the two officials who recommended her medical boarding, which was rejected by Thandile Risk Management, consultants to the department, to face the music.
Thembeni KaMadlopha-Mthethwa, the IFP’s KZN education spokesperson, said: “If the department found that she falsified her sick note, then it must recoup the money the teacher earned while on sick leave during that period.”
KaMadlopha-Mthethwa said Naicker should be axed from her new position at the department’s human resources division, saying: “It’s clear that processes were flouted everywhere when she was redeployed. We cannot allow it to happen that when people are found guilty of wrongdoing in one department, they are then reshuffled to another department.”
The Sunday Tribune has learnt through sources in the department that one of the two officials who is believed to have had a hand in Naicker’s redeployment saga was suspended over a fraud case, not related to Naicker’s one.
Equal Education, a movement of pupils, parents, teachers and community members working for quality and equality in South African education, said it was weighing its options whether or not to press charges against the teacher.
Those who knew Naicker, who is said to be from Phoenix, described her as a person with very strong political connections in the province.
“That’s why, instead of being sacked, she was sent to another division within the department. She has very strong people on her side,” said one source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Her former colleague, also on condition of anonymity, said: “I know her from the late ‘90s. She was one of the teachers who were untouchable at Hopeville Primary. She would brag about how connected she was with politicians in the province.”