Education MEC’s attempts to protect his Department - while dodging and deceiving KZN’s people - must stop
13 April 2021
The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes today’s media briefing by KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Education MEC, Kwazi Mshengu, relating to the release of a departmental probe into reports following a Grade 12 boot camp last year and a further investigation into the DoE’s procurement of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.(view here)
The DA welcomes the briefing in terms of the report on the goings-on at the matric boot camp held in the Harry Gwala District. This after learners at the camp were subjected to deplorable accommodation conditions which included cramped tents, no masks and toilets that were overflowing with human waste.
The findings of this report confirm what the DA has been saying all along – that KZN’s Education Department is a cauldron of corruption. The alleged financial misconduct involving the district manager must be condemned in the strongest terms.
The DA will be requesting a copy of the report from the MEC, in order to study the contents. In the interim, based on the MEC's presentation, we expect that he will summarily suspend the district manager, pending a comprehensive disciplinary process. It cannot be that she is simply given a slap on the wrist. The book must be thrown at her while charges of corruption must also be proffered in line with due process.