Two workers lose jobs after almost falling for a scam

It has been over a year since two Vosloorus residents Mandla Dube (58) and Moses Nogqala (53), former general workers at Kusasa Lethu Primary School lost their jobs after almost falling for a job scam.

Even though they did not completely fall for the scam they still lost their jobs because of it.

They reported a case at Vosloorus SAPS in November 2020 after they were allegedly unfairly dismissed from work by the principal who told them they have resigned.

However, the case was against a man who called them to offer a better job opportunity. The man mentioned that they had to resign first, but later disclosed that he was paid to make Dube lose his job.

When Kathorus MAIL followed up on the case, the Vosloorus SAPS media liaison officer, Const Nompumelelo Nhlapo, said the case was initially investigated by Const Nkosi.

She said upon investigating the case on November 17, 2020, the detective found that the case was undetected as it was not a criminal case. The matters of employment are attended to by the relevant department, she added.

“The police have done their part, the docket was opened and investigated. At some point, the detective went to the school principal to find further information. The principal said she was not allowed to share any information about the dismissal of the two complainants,” said Nhlapo.

Dube and Nogqala’s dismissal case should have been resolved a year ago when the investigation was concluded, but the police never provided them with feedback on the case and the Gauteng Department of Basic Education (GDBE), which is their employer was reluctant to investigate the matter.

Nogqala said it all started on July 10, 2020, when he received a call from a man who deceived him into thinking he is Mavuso, the secretary of uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA), who they thought they knew as they are former MKMVA soldiers.

He said they were promised jobs on the condition they resigned because the system detected that they were permanently employed.

Nogqala said they believed the man because they used to fill in forms for job seekers from the MKMVA organisation during meetings.

The pair attempted to resign twice but according to Nogqala, their resignation letters were rejected on both occasions.

“At first, we asked the principal for resignation letters and we explained that we received a call about a good job opportunity that we would like to take up.

“She gave us the letters and we signed them. She then said we had to submit the letters to the district. When we got to the district, the HR rejected our resignation,” said Nogqala.

A woman from the HR at the GDoBE realised that it was a scam, and advised them to get appointment letters first, he said.

“We called Mavuso to request appointment letters, he agreed to send them, but kept questioning why the letters were rejected while emphasising that the department does not have control over when you choose to resign,” said Nogqala.

He said they went back to the principal to give feedback from the department and asked to return to work.
However, he said the principal and some SGB members kept telling him to stay away from Dube to avoid risking losing his job.

According to Dube, they continued working at the school before receiving the appointment letters and tried to resign again.

The resignation letters were rejected again, and they returned to work, he said.

“When we showed the principal the appointment letter, she said they were fine, but HR realised that the letters did not have the logo of the organisation nor the CoE,” said Dube.

He said HR advised them not to submit the resignation letter and told them it will be difficult for them to find work at their age.

“We went back to the principal to apologise. We were also requested to write an apology letter to her, as well as the department.

“We went back to work. The issue started when we were not paid our salaries for August. When we asked the principal, she said we had resigned,” he continued.

“She saw us reporting to work every day, but she never made an effort to mention this. What puzzled me was that the department did not formally acknowledge our resignation because they never accepted our letters.

“We still have the letters, which were rejected, so which resignation does the department have?”

Dube said this made them realise that this was a scam.

“On our way home, we passed by Vosloorus SAPS to report a case but, unfortunately, it was late and the police were changing shifts.

“We returned the following day, but struggled to open a case until my lawyer wrote a letter to the SAPS, which prompted it to open a docket,” he explained.

“The former station commander, Brig Denge, took over the case along with all the documents to investigate.

“During our meeting, Denge called the principal about the case. The principal agreed to let us return to work over the phone, only for her to chase us out again when we reported for work,” Dube explained.

“Right now, we are unemployed. We have children and families that we have to support,” he said.

Dube painted himself as the target. He said his friend was collateral damage.

He said he got a clear picture when he received an SMS from Mavuso who was promising us jobs.

“The message Mavuso wrote suggested my wife wanted me to lose my job so she can cash in from the pension payout of R250 000 as we are currently going through a divorce.

“On the same SMS, he confirmed being paid R10 000 to make me lose the job,” he said.

Dube said the principal is friends with his wife. He claimed the principal had a role in their job loss as she is the only one who had copies of the resignation letters.

He believed the principal, some of the SGB members and his wife planned their dismissal.

The pair said the DGBE requested them to come with the principal to their office to address the matter, but she refused.

Dube said members of the SGB getting rid of him was part of making way to access and misuse the school’s funds.

“I was the maintenance coordinator at school. There was a time when the toilets were leaking so I had to get three quotations from various plumbers, as per the school’s policy, we are supposed to choose the cheapest.

“But that was not the case during our meeting with the SGB. The principal chose the most expensive one and other SGB members supported it. I assume they wanted to get more money out of the school’s bank for their benefit,” said Dube.

He said the contractor who was hired charged the school R27 000 but he was paid R37 000.

“They could not even finish the job. The same contractor hired us to do the job. We were surprised when he said he could not pay us because he had to pay the chairperson of the SGB,” said Dube.

Nogqala and Dube said they just want to return to work.

Kathorus MAIL contacted the spokesperson of DGBE, Steve Mabona, to confirm whether the department acknowledged and accepted the pair’s resignations letters.

We contacted Mabona telephonically on February 16, 17 and 18 via email. He could not be reached for comment.

On March 3, Mabona confirmed to have received the email and said the department will look into it.
More details will be shared once made available.