More than R24 million was allegedly stolen from the coffers of the department of higher education, science and technology by a syndicate headed by a top official in the department.

City Press understands that the alleged mastermind, who worked in the human resource unit and had access to the payment system, resigned in May 2018.

A month after the officer quit, a whistle-blower who wanted to upgrade their qualifications tipped off the department about the fraudulent misuse of an allowance meant for lectures in the Community Education and Training (CET) colleges – formerly known as Adult Basic Education and Training colleges.

This benefit came into effect in 2014, two years before the department employed the officer, who was then allegedly being investigated for misconduct by Orbit Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college in North West.

The department has since strengthened its vetting processes Ishmael Mnisi

Ishmael Mnisi, spokesperson for Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Blade Nzimande, said the officer resigned in May 2018 without following “proper procedures”.

When he was hired, Mnisi said, the department was unaware of allegations that the officer was being investigated by his previous employer.

“The department has since strengthened its vetting processes,” Mnisi said on Friday, the day Nzimande addressed the department’s senior managers and staff about ethical conduct.

Some of the staff members who attended were from the CET and TVET colleges.

The implicated lecturers worked in colleges in North West, KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape and the Northern Cape.

Nzimande’s address focused on the importance of professional and ethical conduct and integrity in the public service.

To date, the department has laid criminal charges against 92 lecturers, and their assets are in the process of being confiscated.

Mnisi confirmed that the Hawks, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) were involved in the investigation.

“The AFU and NPA have identified and seized some of the accounts in which stolen money was deposited.”

Mnisi said a disciplinary process would follow.

“These will be concluded once the criminal cases are finalised. There have been delays which are beyond the department’s control.”

I deny all the allegations. I left the employ of the department in good standing The officer alleged to have stolen money

The officer, whose name is known to City Press, is said to be the ringleader.

He allegedly targeted lecturers at community colleges, which is a third tier within the higher education system behind universities and TVETs.

According to union sources at the North West CET college where the majority of lecturers were implicated in the scheme, the officer “used foot soldiers who would randomly recruit their colleagues to partake in the scheme to access the allowance by asking for their government payroll system and banking details”.

This was against the government process which required that an application for such a benefit should go through the college principal, who would then send documents to the head office for processing, sources said.

In this case, sources alleged that after handing over their details to the officer’s foot soldiers, the lecturers were paid and then told to transfer a percentage of the money into the officer’s account.

Contacted by City Press last week, the officer confirmed he had quit but denied any knowledge of an investigation into his alleged misconduct.

He also denied that he was fired by the Orbit TVET college for misconduct but refused to say why he left, referring all the questions to the department.

When told about Mnisi’s response, he said: “I deny all the allegations. I left the employ of the department in good standing and an approval for my resignation was also written by the department to that effect.”

Last week, Mariette Viljoen, Orbit’s spokesperson, said a request for information on what happened to the officer had been referred to the department for “scrutiny”.

Despite numerous reminders, she had not responded by the time of publishing.

According to the union sources at the North West CET college, in 2018 investigators from the department’s fraud unit pounced on their colleagues, who, after negotiations, agreed to “pay back the money”.

The sources also said a senior college executive was implicated in the scam.

Yvonne Pelle, the North West CET council chairperson, said they had not heard about their lecturers’ and the senior executive’s involvement in the scam.

She denied that council had probed the matter, despite Mnisi confirming this.

“The college council concluded its investigation,” Mnisi said without giving details.

He said some lecturers were cooperating as witnesses and were paying back the money.

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