KwaZulu-Natal education minister Ina Cronje on Friday threatened legal action against the Inkatha Freedom Party Youth Brigade after it claimed a ”link” between Cronje’s husband and the company distributing stationery for the education department.
KwaZulu-Natal’s superintendent for education, Dr Cassius Lubisi, said he would not comment on the issue.
At a press conference on Thursday the brigade called on KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sbu Ndebele to sack Cronje.
In its press statement, released on the same day, it claimed that several schools had no water or sanitation and that the majority of matric pupils in the province had no text books.
”More damning, however, are reports we have received that the company Indiza had links with MEC Ina Cronje’s husband. We believe that the MEC has a case to answer with regards to Indiza,” the statement said.
It claimed that Indiza had failed to supply textbooks to matriculants.
However, it did not elaborate and when asked by the South African Press Association what these links were. IFP Youth Brigade chairperson Thulasizwe Buthelezi said: ”It’s up to the press to find out. There are links, very strong links.”
He was not prepared to say what these ”links” were. ”We wouldn’t make such [allegations] without any evidence.”
Provincial education spokesperson Christi Naude said Indiza was not responsible for textbooks, but for stationery. She said a company called Edusolutions was responsible for the distribution of textbooks.
Five companies had bid for the tender to distribute the department’s textbooks and stationery. ”We have nothing to hide. The tender procedure was all above board,” she said.
Contacted on Thursday night, Buthelezi maintained that Indiza was distributing textbooks.
Attempts to contact Indiza Infrastructure Solutions were unsuccessful. Internet search engines described the website Indiza.co.za as the ”total solution on procurement and supply of stationery to schools in KwaZulu-Natal”. The website itself, however, was a blank page.
A call to the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office revealed there was no Cronje listed as a director of the company. — Sapa