NW education nightmare: R351m unused despite schools falling apart

The basic education is yet to explain the logic behind appointing Johannes Mohlala, who has an ostensibly dubious past, as caretaker of the North West education department.

The erstwhile municipal manager of Fetakgomo Greater Tubatse municipality in Limpopo was in July 2018 announced by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga as the head of the national intervention team deployed to stabilise the North West.

This after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to place the province under administration due to deteriorating governance in the wake of violent protests for then embattled North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo to go.

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But there has been growing discontent with the education department’s performance, with a total of R351 million unused since the department was placed under administration in 2018.

This despite the province being mostly rural and grappling shortage of schools, poor sanitary conditions and dilapidated school buildings.

A year after the department was placed under administration, the North West Standing Committee on Provincial Public Accounts (Scopa) called on the education department to address irregular expenditure of more than R1 billion.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the province rang alarm bells on the state of the administration as early as September last year; that since the department was placed under administration the situation had not improved.

The party said this directly implicates the basic education department’s failure to ensure that its Constitutional obligations were fulfilled.

Gavin Edwards, the DA’s spokesperson on education in province, said the team had not succeeded in reaching annual targets and failed to make any meaningful contribution to the department’s financial health, schools infrastructure or quality of education.

“What has been the administrator doing there? We have been asking the department this question over and over again without any answer. He has done nothing,” he charged.

Concerned officials in the provincial department have noted that, between 2015 and 2017, Mohlala was at the helm of Fetakgomo Greater Tubatse municipality, ranked among the worst in the country.

The municipality is currently embroiled in a record half a billion rand lawsuit instituted against the municipality by an engineer for withholding payments for work done, in which Mohlala was allegedly central to.

In 2014, he allegedly appointed two companies for a R14 million job of designing and installing 40 high-mast lights.

Mohlala allegedly appointed Volt Consulting Engineers without following procurement procedures while his predecessor, Adelaide Monyepao, had already appointed another company, Bawelile Consulting.

In mid-2017, Mohlala reportedly refused to relinquish his position and reported for work as Fetakgomo Greater Tubatse Municipality manager though his termed had expired on 30 June.

In July 2011, Mohlala was suspended by then North West finance MEC Louisa Mabe after alleged souring relations between the two and other managers, including “unbecoming conduct”, which Mohlala vehemently denied.

Basic education ministry spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga is yet to respond to questions on Mohlala’s performance and what motivated his appointment to the position.

“The person responsible for it is seized with vaccination matters,” he said on Monday.

Mohlala could not be reached for comment and was yet to respond to e-mailed questions.

siphom@citizen.co.za