BY KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

The Democratic Alliance in the North West said they were concerned after the circuit manager in the Ruth Mompati district was assigned work at the department of Culture, Arts and Traditional Affairs (CATA). DA parliamentary leader, Dr Tutu Faleni said Bitsa Lenkopane who served as circuit manager was still receiving her salary from the department of Education.

“We were informed during the Education Portfolio Committee meeting that education authorities are unable to replace the manager because she has not resigned from her position as department of education circuit manager in the Dr Ruth Mompati district.

“The position of the circuit manager carries a lot of authority and responsibility. The absence of the circuit manager impacts on the management of educational affairs in the circuit. The party is of the view that circuit managers play a pivotal role in school development and support. They should be engaged in supervising, coaching, staff development, and modelling designed to improve education in the communities,” Faleni said.

He said the absence of the circuit manager would be detrimental to the improvement of education in that community.

“We will write an urgent letter to the MEC for Education Wendy Matsemela and ask her to provide an explanation on the situation of the circuit manager. We want to know whether the she has resigned or return to fulfil her duties in the post where she was appointed.” Faleni said.

North West Education and Sport Development department said that they will fill the post left by the circuit manager, Bitsa Lenkopane. The department spokesperson, Elias Malindi said: “The circuit manager was still employed by our department when she was assigned to second at the department of Culture Arts and Traditional Affairs (CATA).

“She was temporarily transferred to that job for a defined period of time. There has been an agreement between the department of CATA and Education and Sport Development that CATA will reimburse the salary of the employee to the department. The salary will be reimbursed to the department on monthly basis.”

“There are logistics involved in appointments, so we have been running a swift process of finding suitable personnel to fill the vacuum as soon as November. We can refute that the employee is earning on both departments. Such an act will be in breach of Human Resource prescripts as outlined by Public Service Act.” he said.

-TDN

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