Johannesburg – The Gauteng department of education could have built five new schools with the nearly R500-million it allegedly spent deep-cleaning schools in the province in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, civil society group Equal Education has calculated.
Pressure is mounting on Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi to account for the huge expenditure.
Equal Education spokesperson Jay-Dee Cyster said it was inexplicable that Lesufi, who has said he is shocked about the expenditure, was not aware that such payments were made.
“The allegations are especially disturbing because the budgets of the Department of Basic Education and provincial education departments are extremely tight, as the National Treasury is giving less and less money to the sector,” said Cyster.
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“Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s 2020 supplementary budget gave no extra funding to the basic education sector for Covid-19-related expenses.
“The Treasury instead cut R2-billion of funding and shifted around money in the basic education budget to pay for Covid- 19 essentials in schools, such as water tankers, soap, sanitisers, mobile toilets and mobile classrooms.”
Lesufi announced on Tuesday that he was going to investigate the millions of rand that were used to fight Covid-19 at Gauteng schools after it was revealed in a report compiled by the head of department and chief financial officer that the department spent more than R431-million, including more than R260-million in October alone, on decontamination, deep-cleaning and sanitisation Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann said tough action must be taken against Lesufi.
“These cleaning services were procured between June and August 2020. It is unfathomable that Mr Lesufi did not take any pains to ensure his department’s spending during the pandemic was above board. Especially given the fact that PPE-corruption dominated every public discourse since September 2020,” Hermann wrote in a letter to Gauteng premier David Makhura.
“Since Mr Lesufi has not indicated that he is voluntarily stepping down, we call on you premier Makhura to suspend Mr Lesufi pending a full investigation and disciplinary process.”
Teacher unions have also demanded accountability for the over-the-top expenditure.
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