Eastern Cape Education boss Naledi Mbude, who was suspended on full pay following fraud allegations, has resigned.
The Eastern Cape Office of the Premier announced her departure on Wednesday and said that it has officially reached a settlement agreement with Mbude.
The office said the settlement was achieved following prolonged discussions between the two parties. She resigned from her position with effect from May 3 and all charges that were levelled against her were dropped by the premier.
Mbude was put on precautionary suspension in April, amid a probe into the delays in processing payments for educators assistants during 2021 and in delivering stationery to schools.
She was also under scrutiny for the department’s under-expenditure of the infrastructure conditional grant which saw a return of R205 million to the Treasury. The funds were not spent at the end of the 2021/22 financial year.
About the underspent funds, Mbude told the committee that the reason why the infrastructure budget was not used, was because of irregular and wasteful expenditure that was discovered in the infrastructure programme, of which the department had to conduct a full audit.
“While the premier’s office regards this as a matter of public interest, the two parties have agreed that, in the interest of promoting conducive employer and employee relations, details of this settlement agreement will not be discussed in the public domain,” the office said.
The office stated that Dr Soyisile Nuku, who has been acting Education since April 2023, will continue to lead the department.
It further said it would immediately begin the process to recruit a new HOD.
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