POLOKO TAU
A SOWETO school treasurer is facing fraud charges after she was arrested for allegedly pocketing more than R200 000 belonging to a Meadowlands school.
Dora Mokhithi, who is also a member of the school governing body (SGB) at WK Maponyane Primary in Meadowlands Zone 9, is out on R10 000 bail. She was arrested last week on fraud charges involving R226 500 withdrawn from the school’s account.
Soweto police spokesman Constable Sibusiso Chauke said Mokhithi, 40, had been arrested after her name appeared on printouts acquired by the school principal and other SGB members from FNB’s Dube branch.
Chauke said Mokhithi was alleged to have linked her personal account to that of the school and had been withdrawing money for several months.
Investigations are still under way to determine whether Mokhithi committed the alleged fraud alone or had accomplices.
The National Association of Parents in School Governance (NAPSG) has called for the investigation’s net to be cast wider.
The association said it was “impossible” for the treasurer to have committed the alleged crime by herself, as two signatories were required to authorise any bank transaction.
According to NAPSG spokesman Mahlomola Kekana, SGBs are required to conform to the Public Finance Management Act and the Schools Act, among others.
“The law required that there be three signatories per school, which must be made up of the principal, the SGB chairman and the treasurer. Only two of the three can sign and authorise any withdrawal,” Kekana said.
“It is also baffling as to how the suspect had linked the school’s account to hers, when the law stipulates that transactions can’t be done electronically. A cheque is the only tool that can be used, and no cash cheques can be written out, for the sake of accountability.”
Kekana said the SGB’s constitution clearly stipulated the above and that this had been handed to the bank when the school’s account was opened.
He emphasised that the suspect “could only have (committed the crime) with her friends”.
He said a bank must also launch an internal investigation citing “possibilities that the suspect was helped to transgress by someone within the bank”.
Kekana added: “There could also have been negligence by the bank, in that they may have not verified if there had been any changes to the authorised signatories or amendment to the school’s way of banking.
“Linking of the school’s account to a personal one should also have been verified by the bank, although that is not allowed – not even for an education minister,” he said.
The Gauteng Department of Education said it was aware of the case, adding it was “investigating if anyone in (our) employ is implicated”.
“As the suspect is not in the employ of the department, we will keenly await the outcome of the criminal process. We encourage anyone aware of criminal activity to come forward and report to the police,” said the department’s spokesman Charles Phahlane.
Meanwhile, Meadowlands Concerned Residents (MCR) has secured a meeting with Education MEC Barbara Creecy, after writing a letter asking her to intervene.
In the letter, the MCR had threatened to “close the school” if the MEC failed to intervene.
The letter said that among the issues to be discussed were “corrupt officials, cashing/signing of cheques outside school premises (as well as) school funds/fundraising shared among staff members”.
Chauke said the suspect was due to appear again in the Protea Magistrate’s Court next month.