Nthwalang teachers accuse head of embezzling funds

FREDERICK KEBADIRETSE
Staff Writer | Monday July 5, 2010 00:00

According to one of the teachers, trouble started last year when the school was undergoing some major maintenance after being fully taken by the government. The school head, Busboy Kesupile allegedly auctioned some old items that were removed from the school during maintenance, keeping the money for himself under the pretence that he was keeping it for the PTA although the association has got its own account. The involved teachers say they bought some property during the auction, but the police later repossessed the goods after the auction was considered illegal and unlawful.

The worried teachers told The Monitor that they tried to talk to the school head to get refunds but he keeps giving them a deaf ear. 'He gets very angry with us when we ask about our money, we have waited too long and we are tired,' said one teacher who preferred anonymity. They said this sour relationship with the head has resulted in a lot of tension within the school as they are working in fear and in turn the students are suffering.

'If you question him (headmaster), you should forget about getting a promotion or acting in any senior position, he is always waiting for us to commit some small mistakes so he can use them to punish us for past vendettas,' the teachers said. They said cooperation has collapsed completely in the teaching staff and this impacts on the students as no solution is being taken to avert the situation.

Apart from this, they claimed the school head always fails to explain how PTA funds are being used to develop the school, and they said they suspect some embezzlement is taking place. They pointed to a small concrete and cement platform that was built at the school assembly area saying they were told the platform cost P62, 000 taken from the PTA fund. The teachers said they made a petition to the Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD) regarding the problems at the school but they have yet to hear anything from the Ministry. 

Contacted for comment last week, the school head Mr. Kesupile denied auctioning the goods and keeping the money for himself. He said a company called Culdesac, the same company that was carrying out the maintenance in the school, conducted the auction. 'I did not do the auction sale, they (the company) just requested for permission to use the school premises for the auction, which I agreed to. I do not understand why they can say I took their money,' he said. He said the teachers thought he was using the auction to make some money while in actual fact he was not. He said the police also repossessed the money that was made through the auction when they started their investigations. ' I tried to explain to them that the money is still with the police and there is nothing I can do, but they think I am lying,' Kesupile said.

He refuted allegations of tension and hatred at the school as alleged by some staff members. 'People are just bitter because as a leader, you sometimes have to exercise authority where necessary, and not all subordinates will like it,' he said. Kesupile said some teachers have been reluctant to do their job since the new public service act came to effect at the beginning of May this year, so he had to exercise his authority to get people to do the job.

He dismissed the allegations that he is embezzling PTA funds terming them false and unfounded and made by people who want to tarnish his name. ' That is not true at all, I am an ex-officio of the PTA but now I have nothing to do with the PTA money. They just want to drag my name in the mud because they don't want to work, so they expect me to just keep quiet if things are going wrong in the school,' he said. He however acknowledged receiving a petition from the staff and signing it before passing it to the supervisors and said he is still waiting for a response. He also said the platform at the school assembly was done under the previous PTA committee and he cannot account for them. ' The school PTA now has a new committee, that platform they are talking about was constructed under the previous one,' he said.

When reached for comment, Public Relations Officer (PRO) at the Ministry of Education and Skills Development Godfrey Kalanke said he was not aware of the delivered petition from the Nthwalang teaching staff. He promised to find out more about it from his seniors and follow it up today (Monday). The Station Commander of Number 4.

District in Lobatse Mr. Molapisi acknowledged repossessing the money and goods that were sold during the auction as they are conducting investigations into the case. He could not give further details as the investigating officer in the case was said to be away on official duty.