Andy Duffy
Independent investigators in the North West province are probing alleged irregularities in education department contracts worth more than R130-million.
The contracts include a massive school textbook order, where half the books never reached the schools, and irregularities in at least two Reconstruction and Development Programme education schemes in the province.
The investigation, ordered by provincial premier Popo Molefe, is due to report next month. Molefe this week fired his education MEC, Mamoekoena Gaoretelelwe, after months of strife in her department.
It is understood that the probe is also checking claims that one of Gaoretelelwe’s relatives stood to gain from a R6-million school wallchart contract. And the Mail & Guardian reported in September that Gaoretelelwe had appointed her sister-in- law as an attorney in a department battle to dismiss more than 400 foreign teachers.
It is also understood that the investigation is looking at Gaoretelelwe’s relations with members of the province’s tender board.
Molefe was unavailable for comment. But Gaoretelelwe said this week that previous probes into the textbook contract found nothing to implicate her. A prominent member of the African National Congress Women’s League, she hit back at Molefe.
“I have been shoddily treated since my appointment. He [Molefe] hasn’t even had the courtesy of responding to my letters. I have been unfairly treated as a woman.”
Molefe’s investigators, the Johannesburg- based auditing firm Gobodo, confirmed it was working on the investigation. The firm’s previous clients include the police, the Office for Serious Economic Offences, and the auditor general, where it investigated the Motheo low-cost housing scandal in Mpumalanga.
Gobodo has already questioned several education department officials, including former education deputy director general, Gulam Husien Mayet, who quit in August after a long-running battle with Gaoretelelwe.
Molefe axed Gaoretelelwe on Wednesday, replacing her with public works and roads MEC, Zakes Tolo.