The SA Council of Educators (Sace) and Umalusi are probing a dodgy Joburg college, which has failed to pay teacher salaries for months and is also accused of misrepresenting the number of its employees in its application to receive millions in state subsidies.
Afro-Kombs College, which has been receiving a subsidy from the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) since 2011, received a government grant of R2-million for the past academic year according to its latest financial statements.
The Hillbrow-based school has been denounced by sources for misrepresenting its teacher profile in its application for the subsidy to the GDE.
A source who refused to be named for fear of reprisals revealed that six of the 14 names submitted on the application to the GDE are those of registered professional teachers who are not employed by the school.
“These are educators who have never worked at Afro-Kombs College, however, they submitted their CVs at the beginning of the year because the school had multiple vacancies as a result of massive resi nations in October 2023.
“Afro-Kombs College didn’t disclose all the 23 educators because the majority are Zimbabweans who are undocumented and do not have Sace (South African Council of Educators) certificates to teach in South Africa,” the source said.
Sunday World has seen co-pies of the application submitted to the GDE and copies of the teacher register signed by teachers when they check in and out for work.
The school’s GDE application for 2024 was submitted on February 27. However, the teacher register dating from February 26, shows that the school has 23 teachers, containing only eight of the names, which appear on the GDE application form.
The school’s finances are also in shambles. Teachers claim that they have not been paid their full salaries, some as far back as October last year. Teachers earn from R6 300 a month but they are paid between R1 000 and R2 000 with a promise that the balance would be paid later. The school also owes the landlord of the building more than R9.5-million in rent and utilities.
Sunday World has seen a copy of the May invoice from Tee Properties which shows a balance brought forward of R9.3-million, plus interest of R100 472 and rent of R221 929 and utilities. Principal Bikithemba Thebe, allegedly told staff they would be paid their full salaries when the GDE released the first batch of the subsidy. Thebe confirmed that staff members have not been paid for months. He said the bulk of the subsidy was used to pay salaries, but there was still a shortfall.
He said their financial problems started in 2020 after the outbreak of Covid-19. “The enrolment is too low to run the school at present. The school is allowed to enrol 632 learners and now it has 180,” he said.
“There are mistakes l might have made to try and balance up things so that the college may operate while things are being fixed,” said Thebe.
The non-payment of salaries was reported to the Department of Basic Education (DBE) as recorded in an inspection report by the GDE dated April 17. The report states: “A group of aggrieved educators forwarded a complaint to DBE. The educators have not been paid since December 2023.”
In its findings, the GDE report signed by an official from the department and the principal noted: “The school is getting a subsidy from GDE. A total of 15 teachers were interviewed. The teachers informed the officials that the last time they were paid a full salary was in October. Teachers are paid between R1 000 – R2 000. In other months they get a half salary.”
The department recommended that the school must pay the backlog of salaries with the first batch of the subsidy. “The principal will give monthly progress reports,” the official wrote in the report. In line with South African Schools Act regulations, provincial departments are required to pay the subsidies to independent schools that qualify for subsidy each quarter. However, teachers said that after the first payment of the subsidy was received by the school in May, the school’s director, 21-year-old Harry Nxumalo, called them to a meeting on May 6.
“He told us that the subsidy will be used to pay the South Africa Revenue Service, auditors, loans and lawyer fees,” said one of the teachers. “This is grossly unfair after we have dedicated nearly half a year working diligently being promised when the subsidy comes, we will be paid.”
Sace spokesperson Risuna Nkuna said a case file was opened on June 14, 2024 and is pending a formal investigation.
The Quality Council for General and Further Education and Training (Umalusi) also confirmed that it was following due process regarding a complaint that it received on May 10 regarding the school.
As a student of Afro kombs college i would like to put some facts on this matter, When a person starts a school they are directors and stuff, the principal is also recognized as an employee…some educators who don’t have full knowledge on how the school operates thought that the principal is the one that has to pay them their salary which is not true because the principal is also an employee zt Afro kombs college.
There is the educator who teaches funation phase, she always wants to be recognized so it happened that he asked one of the upper bodies at school about the salary issue and it happened that they told her the money was given to principal, so she was angry and started shouting do that we could hear her speak and she promised to make the school trend, and that the principal will see newspaper people there at school. The school was running perfectly but during and after COVID-19 everything changed, our educators do not tell us everything bitas learners we do some investigations, it happened that the school was schemed millions by the person who was claimed to be the new principal… So since 2020 up to 2023 the school suffered a lot and tried to be at it peak last year October, they fundraised so that there will be price giving day and some department authorities where there and all teachers were introduced, which now i don’t get it if they say Afro kombs college lied about the number of its stuff… The school tried to market itself and a lot of students showed up this year. The biggest reason why teachers don’t get paid is that some learners owe huge amounts of school fees which affect the finance of the school… They are statics that are taken every year by people from the department so hiw will the school lie about the number of learners because according to my own level of knowledge and understanding schools get subsidy according to the number of learners in that school. So as a private institution that sometimes faces challenges, they will depend on that subsidy and the fees in order for te school to continue operating. The school is not failing that bad because they do cater for all educators besides the salary issue abd if there were owing those millions to the owner of the building we would have been chased out long ago . The meeting that was held at school by all stuff members they expected the director to be there but he/she did not show up. So because of anger some educators are fighting each other in terms of salary distribution and management involving the school in their fights.The school has to make proper investigation on where the money goes and let the department of education authorities to come and see the school and inspect properly before we pose unnecessary delegations
As a student at Afro kombs college i would like to put some facts on this matter, When a person starts a school they are directors and stuff, the principal is also recognized as an employee…some educators who don’t have full knowledge on how the school operates thought that the principal is the one that has to pay them their salary which is not true because the principal is also an employee at Afro kombs college.
There is this educator who teaches funation phase, she always wants to be recognized so it happened that she asked one of the upper bodies at school about the salary issue and it happened that they told her the money was given to the principal, so she was angry and started shouting so that we could hear her speak and she promised to make the school trend, and that the principal will see newspaper people there at school. The school was running perfectly but during and after COVID-19 everything changed, our educators do not tell us everything but as learners we do some investigations, it happened that the school was schemed millions by the person who was claimed to be the new principal… So since 2020 up to 2023 the school suffered a lot and tried to be at it peak last year October, they fundraised so that there will be price giving day and some department authorities where there and all teachers were introduced, which now i don’t get it if they say Afro kombs college lied about the number of its stuff… The school tried to market itself and a lot of students showed up this year. The biggest reason why teachers don’t get paid is that some learners owe huge amounts of school fees which affect the finance of the school… They are statics that are taken every year by people from the department so how will the school lie about the number of learners because according to my own level of knowledge and understanding schools get subsidy according to the number of learners in that school. So as a private institution that sometimes faces challenges, they will depend on that subsidy and the fees in order for the school to continue operating. The school is not failing that bad because they do cater for all educators besides the salary issue and if they were owing those millions to the owner of the building we would have been chased out long ago . The meeting that was held at school by all stuff members they expected the director to be there but he/she did not show up. So because of anger some educators are fighting each other in terms of salary distribution and managerial bodies involving the school in their fights.The school has to make proper investigation on where the money goes and let the department of education authorities to come and see the school and inspect properly before we pose false accusations and misleading information