Protector investigating textbook cases

2012-07-26 10:06

Thuli Madonsela. Picture: Beeld

Johannesburg - Public Protector Thuli Madonsela is investigating textbook cases in three provinces, a breakfast briefing heard on Thursday.

"We have also written to the department of basic education and asked them to state what is being done to prevent this from happening again...and whether it is clear what books should be delivered to who by what time," Madonsela told The New Age breakfast briefing.

Her office was investigating three complaints regarding textbooks.

One was the recent destruction of books in Limpopo where a contractor claimed they were being paid by government to shred the books. The investigation was to find out whether there was any maladministration in that regard, she said.

The second case was a complaint about some schools in the Free State that had not received textbooks yet.

"In Gauteng we have one complaint that books for next year have not been approved yet," said Madonsela.

Government task teams

Madonsela said her office came in late into the textbook saga and found that government had appointed task teams to investigate.

She said there were some informal complaints about schools in the Eastern Cape that did not have enough teachers.

"We want the department to give us an indication of what has been the level of compliance in all provinces this year and what mechanisms are in place to make sure that these problems do not happen again next year."

Madonsela said depending on the outcomes of the investigations, she would indicate to the department what should be done to remedy the situation.

Minister Angie Motshekga was in Limpopo meeting stakeholders in education. She also met MEC Dickson Masemola on Tuesday.

- SAPA