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SAIM HEAD TEACHER CHARGED

16/03/2020 08:57:00 BY SITHEMBILE HLATSHWAYO

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MBABANE – There is a move to remove Stanley Mdluli as the head teacher of Saim Christian High School by the Africa Continent Mission.
Mdluli, who was appointed head teacher at the school in 2017, has been charged with insubordination by the mission.

He is not the first head teacher to be removed by the mission since the establishment of the school, following Solomon Sukati, who served between 2012 and 2013.

In a letter written by the School’s Manager, Sicelo Nxumalo, to the Teaching Service Commission (TSC), it is alleged that Mdluli did not have respect anymore for the church and its structures.

According to Nxumalo, the head teacher had allegedly shown and continued to show tendencies to treat the office of the school’s manager with disdain.
This, he said, was exhibited in one of the instances where Mdluli allegedly invited a foreign pastor to be a cosignatory in a letter that he wrote with the Saim Christian High School letter-headed paper inviting pastors of the Africa Continent Mission to be part of a prayer and only giving a copy to the office of the school’s manager.

Supervised

The letter, written by Nxumalo, also alleged that Mdluli did not want to be supervised or work under the guidance and leadership of the school’s manager as was the case in other mission schools in the country.
He said this was evident from his alleged refusal to share vital and crucial information about the school with the office of the school’s manager.
Further, the letter states that Mdluli was setting a stage for the community to revolt against the Africa Continent Mission.

“This is evident from his behaviour to hold meetings against decisions made by the Board of Africa Continent Mission,” reads part of the letter.
It was also noted in the letter that Mdluli had allegedly formulated a policy for the school that bears a different name without the knowledge, input and approval of the church structures.

Nxumalo said they were, therefore, of the view that it was no longer healthy for Mdluli to remain as the head teacher of the school and requested that he be transferred to another one.

Speaking during an interview on clarity regarding the charges made against the head teacher, Nxumalo said Saim Christian High was a missionary school that was established by the Africa Continent Mission under the leadership of Pastor Chong Yang Kim.
Nxumalo said all missionary schools had aschool’s manager, who played an important role in linking the school and church, a responsibility that cannot be substituted.

He said the recommendation made to the TSC was due to the defiance of the head teacher who failed to listen and take orders from the school’s manager’s office to allow smooth operations.
Nxumalo mentioned that on several occasions they had engaged Mdluli to an extent where the Board informed him that they would be visiting the school to introduce the new grantee and chaplain.

“His response to the Board, through a letter he wrote, was to the effect they could not come to the school, something that had created challenges,” alleged Nxumalo.
He said the Board ran the school and not following its rules was a sign of defiance, which gave them no choice. According to Nxumalo, Mdluli cited reasons that were unclear on why he could not meet with the Board.
The school’s manager said the main reason that pushed their recommendation to the TSC to transfer Mdluli was his alleged refusal to allow the Board to visit the school to introduce the new grantee and chaplain.

Transfer

He said the other reasons were just noted because they were also part of their grounds to transfer him.
Nxumalo said it was not proper for Mdluli to make the issue part of the agenda during a parents meeting as it set the mission against the community of Mahwalala.

Meanwhile, Mdluli said the issues raised in the charges were being personalised and directed at him as they were decided upon by the school committee, which he said was a challenge.

He said what he did not know was the charge that he had formulated a policy for the school that have a different name and that he was setting a stage for the community to revolt against Africa Continent Mission Church. “I hope they are yet to explain to me what they meant about this,” he said.

Mdluli said he had so many correspondences forwarded to him by the Board and the transfer recommendation was the latest development, following that he suspended three members of his support staff who reported him to the school’s manager. These support staff members, according to Mdluli, failed to produce some documentation regarding their qualifications and opted to report to the office of the school’s manager.
Chairperson of the School Committee Patricia Dlamini said the school had to be sure that the documents of the support staff were in order as their salaries were financed by parents through school fees.

Dlamini said an audit report recommended that they make contracts for the support staff following that there were no agreements in their files, which is where challenges then began.
Vice Chairperson of the School Committee Gabi Siyaya also reiterated Dlamini’s words adding that they began an exercise to assist their support staff by ensuring that the school complies with the law by creating contracts. Siyaya said following the rules and regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, they began the training as members of the school committee on how to conduct the exercise to create the contracts.

Following that, she said they then revisited the contracts where they clearly distinguished what was needed when hiring support staff members.
Siyaya said some of the support staff members were earning equally with the teachers and they discovered that the fees were being abused as the grade they should be paying the support staff was way below.

However, she mentioned that three of the support staff did not bring back the contracts and the head teacher needed to take a stand, where they were then suspended. This, she said, was after they were engaged on why they failed to submit their signed contracts.