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2 BOYS STEAL SCHOOL CHEQUE, STAFF NOT PAID

01/09/2020 00:30:00 BY KWANELE SIBIYA

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NKAMBENI – The mysterious disappearance of a cheque from Sikhunyana High School allegedly led to about five support staff members not being paid their salaries for two months.

This comes after two pupils from the school allegedly stole the cheque from head teacher’s office around March.

Even though the cheque was stolen in March, the money was meant for the salaries of July and August.

Information gathered from a source close to the matter, who preferred to comment on condition of anonymity, was to the effect that one of the pupils *Sizwe, allegedly stole the cheque amounting to E15 000, which was purportedly supposed to pay the school’s support staff among other expenditures of the school.

Friends

The source said after stealing the cheque, Sizwe, who is currently doing Form III in the same school, gave it to one of his friends, *Sabelo, who is doing Form V, to cash it at the bank.

“Before handing over the cheque, Sizwe forged the signature of the head teacher and that of the school chairman, given the fact that they are the ones who are authorised to sign cheques before they can be cashed,” the source alleged.

He further alleged that after receiving the cheque from his friend, Sabelo took it to the bank and after cashing it, opened an account in the same bank where he allegedly deposited E14 000 and withdrew E1 000.

It was further alleged that after withdrawing the aforementioned amount of money, Sabelo then used E100 for transport and gave the remaining E900 to Sizwe as well as the transactional card. Sizwe is alleged to have later withdrawn the remaining amount of money from the bank account.

As soon as the head teacher discovered that the cheque had disappeared, she went to check with the bank and upon arrival, was informed that it had been cashed by Sizwe, who claimed that he was given the cheque as payment after performing some duties for the school, where he was employed as a groundsman.

“The head teacher was shown the footage of Sizwe during his visit to the bank and she then asked him about the money but he failed to give her a definite explanation,” said the source.

It was stated that soon after confronting Sizwe on the phone, the head teacher went to Tshaneni Police Station to report the matter.

The source said the following day; Sizwe went to Mliba Police Station, where he surrendered himself, however, given the fact that the case had already been reported at Tshaneni Police Station, they transferred him there (Tshaneni) where Sabelo was also summoned for questioning.

It was alleged that during the interrogation, Sizwe claimed that the cheque was stolen by Sabelo, an assertion which he (Sabelo) denied.

The two minors were allegedly released by the police, who informed them they were going to conduct an investigation on the matter.

Disappearance

Muzi alleged that the disappearance of the cheque saw the school’s support’s staff; three security guards, a secretary and a typist, going for two months without receiving their salaries.

It was alleged that when the support staff demanded the salary from the head teacher, she told them that the school did not have sufficient funds to pay them since it was currently facing financial challenges.

One of the support staff members, who also preferred to be anonymous, confirmed the matter.

The support staff member pointed out that they went for two months without receiving their salaries. He said it was unfortunate that the incident happened during the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had financially crippled most families.

According to the support staff member, there were nights when they had to go to bed on empty stomachs because they did not have money to buy food. The Head teacher, who was only identified as LaDlamini, was reached for comment and she referred all questions to the chairman of the school committee, Gideon Nxumalo.

Nxumalo confirmed that indeed a cheque disappeared from the school after two pupils allegedly stole it from the head teacher’s office, and that the support staff had gone for two months without receiving their monthly salaries.

However, he disputed that the support staff members went for two months without receiving their salaries solely because of the disappearance of the cheque in question, but on the contrary, he said the school was facing financial challenges due to the fact that parents were refusing to pay school fees.

“It is true that a cheque disappeared at the school and we went to the bank to find out what happened, which was when we discovered that two pupils from the school were involved,” he said. However, he said the parents of the pupils refunded the money that had disappeared after the school reached a decision that the pupils were minors whose future could be destroyed in the event they were arrested for the offence.

Resolve

Nxumalo said the matter was also reported to the police and they suggested that they should resolve it in the manner in which they did.

According to Nxumalo, before the reopening of the schools, Sikhunyana High School was declared to be unfit to resume classes and a lot of money had to be used to refurbish the school, something which led to it (school)facing the said financial challenges which saw the aforementioned staff members going for two months without receiving their monthly salaries.

Nxumalo said the school even organised a meeting with the parents whereby they agreed that they (parents) should pay a sum of E600 per child, which would help in rectifying the school’s financial challenges.

Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said she could not confirm nor deny the matter given the fact that no case was opened at the police station since the parties involved decided to solve the matter amicable.