Principal chased away for food scandal

Angry Mamelodi parents have chased a Mamelodi school principal away after accusing her of keeping feeding scheme food in unhygienic storage and rationing it to the children.

The parents stormed the Refentse primary school in Mamelodi West, Section D6 on Tuesday claiming the principal was rationing food to learners and keeping it in a storeroom with harmful and dangerous chemicals.

The parents said they were triggered after a meeting with the principal on Sunday failed to materialise.

They said the principal failed to heed their demand to move the food to a safer place and stop the rationing.

They threatened to shut down the school should the principal not resign her position.

Parent, Musa Dolo said the principal had been a problem for a very long time.

She said the parents were fed up with her behaviour because she acted as if the school was hers.

“By keeping the food in a storeroom with dangerous chemicals, she puts our children’s health at risk.

“We are also not happy with her controlling the amount of food on children’s plates.

“There are a lot of things that go missing in the storeroom and the only person who has the key is the principal,” she added.

Dolo said the district department had failed them and they demanded the principal to resign.

“We want someone who cares for the learners, someone who can work with parents and the community. The school belongs to the community,” she added.

The principal was chased away in the presence of the police and department officials and told to never set foot at the school again.

They threatened to shut down the school should the department allow the principal back.

They claimed their children were no longer safe in the hands of the principal.

Another parent, Letty Kotu said kitchen workers can’t do their work freely because the principal has assigned some teachers to watch them as they cook.

“While they are watching us, who is teaching our children?

“Our children come back home hungry because they are not getting enough food at school and it is wrong. We want her gone,” Kotu said.

Ward 23 Sanco secretary Thatohatsi Mohale said parents were angry because the principal was refusing to listen to them.

He said the principal had defended her actions by claiming that it was kitchen staff that was stealing the food but the parents denied this.

“It is entirely not true, the principal placed the food in a storeroom because she wanted to control the feeding scheme,” he said.

A group of 15 learners once went to the principal’s office asking for more food to be released because they were still hungry but she refused and dismissed them, he said.

“We no longer want her and she must pack her things and go. It shows she is not willing to work together with SGB and parents and she is a dictator,” he said.

He said parents reported the matter to the district but their pleas fell on deaf ears and they also held several meetings with the principal but she ignored them.

“We have had enough and are tired of the way the principal is controlling everything at the school. We can’t take it any more, we are calling for her resignation and she must not come back,” Mohale said.

The parents also complained that expired food had been fed to the learners.

Education spokesperson Steve Mabona said the department is aware and concerned by what transpired at the school on Tuesday.

He said consequently, officials were dispatched to the said school to investigate all allegations, including those levelled against the principal.

“The outcomes thereof will be communicated in due course but nothing justifies the disruption of schooling,” said Mabona.

“We urge all stakeholders to use available structures to raise issues of concern and not to disrupt schooling. Lost contact time is not easily recovered.”

He said the department will continue to monitor the situation and intervene accordingly.

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