PHILLIP NKOSI, Nelspruit | Monday 4.20pm.
THE head of Mpumalanga’s Education Department, Faith Sithole, has been suspended in connection with the province’s matric results scandal.
This follows calls by the South African Democratic Teachers Union to suspend her after the province’s matric results were fraudulently inflated to 72% last year. Acting MEC for Education, Fish Mahlalela, said on Monday that Sithole was suspended on Friday pending an investigation into her alleged involvement in the scandal.
He denied that she was suspended due to pressure from Sadtu. “We suspended Sithole in her capacity as head of the department because she had the overall responsibility to account for everything taking place in the department,” Mahlalela explained.
Two senior officials — Gogo Ndlovana, Acting Director of Examination and Kate Mokone, first Education Specialist — were suspended last month after they allegedly confessed in an internal inquiry that they tampered with the examination marks.
“The two officials will face a tribunal which will afford them the opportunity to answer the serious charges of violating systems and procedures relating to last year’s senior certificate examination,” said Mahlalela.
“Details of these proceedings will be made available in due course,” he added. According to Mahlalela, nine suspects have been identified by police in connection with the scandal. He would not identify them or state whether they included the three suspended senior officials.
Mahlalela further announced that the special supplementary examination for last year’s matriculants who failed after their papers were remarked, have been cancelled. Instead of sitting in August, pupils will rewrite their papers with this year’s pupils during the ordinary exams in October and November. Mahlalela said the special supplementary exams were cancelled because of insufficient time to prepare candidates and the lack of human and material resources. — African Eye News Service