IFP Links Bad Matric Results to 'Fishy' Indiza

January 18, 2007

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has monopolised the education system to such an extent that it has to take comprehensive responsibility for all its failures, including last year’s matric results, claims the IFP.

“For one, the Department failed dismally to distribute textbooks timeously, adequately and evenly across the province in 2006,” said Wiseman Mcoyi who holds the IFP’s education portfolio in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Parliament.

“Even where textbooks and stationery were delivered, there were often not enough items for all pupils. In many cases wrong orders were delivered. How were the teachers and pupils expected to do their respective jobs properly if the Department left them in the cold?” * said Mcoyi.

The IFP raised the issue of botched-up distribution consistently throughout 2006 in the provincial Parliament. In response, the Department failed to take effective action for reasons the IFP believes are suspect.

“Indiza and Edusolution, the Department’s own new providers and distributors of textbooks, could not be penalised for destroying our education system by the Department because they have been too close to home, namely the Department and its leadership,” said Mcoyi.

Indiza, in particular, was granted the government tender for supplying textbooks to schools without being registered for VAT. “Despite this irregularity, Indiza claimed VAT payments without producing a VAT number. As a result, the officials in the Department paid Indiza hundreds of millions of rands without a VAT or tax clearance certificate,” said Mcoyi.

The IFP believes that such irregularities, actively promoted and covered up by the Department, contributed to the virtual break-down of the education system in many schools in KwaZulu-Natal in 2006. “The poor matric results in 2006 are a direct consequence of the Department’s mismanagement and sleaze regarding the distribution of textbooks,” said Mcoyi.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Wiseman Mcoyi
083 356 1023