Faulty cheque printer delays teachers' salaries

The director of primary and secondary education in the Southern Region, Motsamai Phuthego, made this revelation to Mmegi in an interview over the matter after the newspaper was approached following complaints by temporary teachers that they were not being paid.  "We are having problems with our machine in Kanye and we have been forced to print in Jwaneng. We have just received some cheques and others will be going for print tomorrow," said Phutego yesterday. At the moment they are issuing cheques for September.

To compound the problem the government accounting budgeting system (GABS), a system that is used to prepare cheques was not working from September 26 until October 4. "This a system used nationwide and here in the Southern Region we were further delayed by problems with the printer," he said. He added that there are about 320 temporary teachers in his area in the 123 primary schools and 34 secondary schools. However, he said that they are having the machine attended to and hope it will be in good condition soon.