Two Eastern Cape officials have been suspended over the non-delivery of stationery in one of the province?s regions.
The non-delivery triggered a two-week class boycott by students and teacher unions last month and forced the intervention of the national Department of Education.
Eastern Cape Department of Education spokesperson Phaphama Mfenyana said this week charges against the two were being finalised, and a date for their disciplinary hearings would be set soon.
The decision to suspend the two officials follows closely upon Minister of Education Kader Asmal’s visit to the Maluti region. After his visit Asmal called for disciplinary action to be taken against officials responsible for the non-delivery of stationery.
Mfenyana said the two suspended officials will face charges of failure to perform duties and negligence.
Last month more than 60 000 students from about 210 schools in the Maluti region boycotted classes and vowed not to return until stationery had been delivered.
The protest was called off to give the province a chance to deliver the missing supplies. Teacher unions said students had been forced to use old and torn books and stationery.
The new supplies were supposed to have reached schools at the start of the year. Mfenyana said the two suspended officials failed to act appropriately when the problem of non-delivery was first detected in November last year.
He said the two also failed to act when it was discovered that the Maluti region’s requisitions forms for stationery had gone missing.
”One of the officials was based in the provincial education department offices in Bisho and was responsible for capturing the requisitions. He failed to act accordingly when the discrepancy was picked up,” Mfenyana said.