Syndicate selling teaching jobs

The teacher holds a University Degree with PGCE and is qualified to teach in high school, but currently teaches in one of the primary schools in the Lubombo region.

Due to the unavaila-bility of posts, she ended up being posted to the primary school pending a vacancy in high school. The teacher was busy with her daily duties when she received a call from a man who introduced himself as a member of the TSC and offered her a post in high school.

He said she should be ready to pay E3 000 in advance and then the E2 000 balance when she has been posted, according to a source.

The teacher arranged for a meeting with the man who was calling from a mobile phone as she also wanted to confirm if he was indeed employed by the TSC.

On the scheduled day she went to Mbabane and met him at some offices where he continued to demand the bribe. "She wondered why she should be paying so much money when she actually deserved to be posted to a high school because she was qualified," the source said.

The officer allegedly told her that was how they (man and others) made money at the TSC, to which she declined. The teacher returned to her school and formally notified the principal about the matter. She however refused to discuss the matter with our reporter for reasons she did not state. "I suggest you use the information that you already have," she said briefly.

The principal, identified as Matsebula said he asked the teacher how she had gone to the TSC since she had asked to be relieved on a Friday after she received a call from an officer there.

"I asked because I was concerned that they would take her away and delay her replacement as normally would be the case. She told me about the incident and said she declined the offer because it was costly for her," he said.

Matsebula said the teacher explained that she had discussed the matter with her family and they advised her to take legal action especially because she has evidence and also had a verbal showdown with the officer who was angered by her move to reject the offer.

Matsebula said he has two teachers who are qualified to teach at secondary and high schools, but are still waiting for vacancies. The TSC is working on the matter which they believe is a plot by a certain syndicate to tarnish their name.

Mduduzi Nkambule, the TSC Executive Secretary said, however, he would not rule out any possible involvement of any member of the Commission.

He said he would personally take up this issue especially because the teacher reported it to her principal and because she has the ‘officer’s’ contact details. "We are working tirelessly to catch just one of these people because they are all out to tarnish our good name," he said.

Nkambule said they also had a case that was reported to them recently where a person was made to pay E2 800 to a man whom he met under a tree. "We would like to caution people because the conmen used cell numbers that they eventually discard after committing the offences so that they cannot be traced," he said.

Police Deputy Public Relations Officer Assistant Superintendent Stephen Dlamini said it would be difficult to determine how often such cases are reported to the police.

"We classify then according to the nature of the crime without the finer details so we cannot single out cases of conned teachers," he said.

This is just a tip of an iceberg. There is a lot of rot at TSC. Even promotions are sold e.g to be deputy you pay anything between 10 and 15 grand. A commission of enquiry is needed. The entire TSC is corrupt
May 19, 2012, 9:28 AM, Tizozo (mnini@rocketmail.com)

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Your website:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: