LazyLion
King of de Jungle
Textbooks meant for schools in KwaZulu-Natal were found shredded and burned at a warehouse in Empangeni, provincial education authorities said on Thursday.
The textbooks were to have been delivered to schools in the province by March, education MEC Senzo Mchunu said.
The books were discovered on Wednesday at a warehouse belonging to UTi Distributors, a company contracted by the basic education department to distribute textbooks in all provinces.
"We can't help but suspect that there is a case of huge corruption on the part of the company in question," Mchunu said.
He said the department began suspecting something was amiss when, instead of distributing workbooks directly to schools, UTi decided to distribute workbooks at the offices of Uthungulu District.
"That meant we had to incur unnecessary expenses where principals had to drive to the district offices to collect workbooks," Mchunu said.
"This inefficiency happened more than once."
The department then conducted its own investigations which led to the discovery of the textbooks in Empangeni.
Mchunu said he had reported the matter to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and to the police.
The African National Congress in the province condemned the non-delivery of textbooks.
"It is absurd that books which are of great value to our children could be disposed of in this careless way," ANC spokesman Senzo Mkhize said in a statement.
He said this proved that some business people did not care about the development of the country and pupils.
"The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal therefore calls for a speedy police investigation so that the perpetrators of this unspeakable deed are prosecuted and blacklisted from doing business with any government department or public entity," Mkhize said.
UTi Distributors was not available for comment, but the Witness newspaper quoted UTi divisions director Greg Saffy as saying the company was conducting an internal investigation into the matter.
Source : Sapa /ns/hdw/clh/fg
Date : 25 Jul 2013 15:19
The textbooks were to have been delivered to schools in the province by March, education MEC Senzo Mchunu said.
The books were discovered on Wednesday at a warehouse belonging to UTi Distributors, a company contracted by the basic education department to distribute textbooks in all provinces.
"We can't help but suspect that there is a case of huge corruption on the part of the company in question," Mchunu said.
He said the department began suspecting something was amiss when, instead of distributing workbooks directly to schools, UTi decided to distribute workbooks at the offices of Uthungulu District.
"That meant we had to incur unnecessary expenses where principals had to drive to the district offices to collect workbooks," Mchunu said.
"This inefficiency happened more than once."
The department then conducted its own investigations which led to the discovery of the textbooks in Empangeni.
Mchunu said he had reported the matter to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and to the police.
The African National Congress in the province condemned the non-delivery of textbooks.
"It is absurd that books which are of great value to our children could be disposed of in this careless way," ANC spokesman Senzo Mkhize said in a statement.
He said this proved that some business people did not care about the development of the country and pupils.
"The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal therefore calls for a speedy police investigation so that the perpetrators of this unspeakable deed are prosecuted and blacklisted from doing business with any government department or public entity," Mkhize said.
UTi Distributors was not available for comment, but the Witness newspaper quoted UTi divisions director Greg Saffy as saying the company was conducting an internal investigation into the matter.
Source : Sapa /ns/hdw/clh/fg
Date : 25 Jul 2013 15:19