Suspect in City of Tshwane transformer theft case plans to plead not guilty
Three municipal workers returned to the dock on Friday after their arrest linked to the theft of an R7-million transformer from the Laudium substation.
Siphiwe Mahlangu, Thomas Baloyi and Daniel Kubayi, who are all City of Tshwane employees, are applying for bail.
On Friday, the court heard that 45-year-old Mahlangu had no previous convictions, no pending cases or warrants of arrest.
READ: Police in Tshwane arrest 3 municipal workers for theft of R7 million transformer
His attorney, Thabiso Mphahlele, disclosed to the court that in the 90s his client only had a traffic violation, which he paid a fine for.
Mahlangu's bail statement further stated that he was a father to three minors and the provider for his wife and children.
His lawyer read the statement to the court.
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'What we found was that there was a huge problem around the mismanagement of school funds by members of the SBG and we find that it's about 45% of those reports we're pointing to misappropriation of resources, maladministration, abuse of authority, employment irregularities and procurement irregularities as well,' he said. These reports were mainly from Gauteng, followed by KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Free State. '…they were pointing at the SGBs themselves, the administrators themselves, and also school principals, which was a very huge problem for us at that particular time,' said Banjathwa. 'It is a very big problem in South Africa and this is mainly happening in low-income communities where you find that there isn't sufficient money for people anyway, so that's a very huge problem.' Financial mismanagement factors Banjathwa explained that several factors contribute to the problem of financial mismanagement in schools. 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'Cases such as this highlight the need for strong oversight and transparency within SGB decision-making processes, and may indicate the need to further capacitate SGBs on their roles and responsibilities,' she said. The consequences of financial mismanagement have devastating consequences on the quality of education children receive. Petherbridge explained that such mismanagement often results in insufficient resources to maintain school infrastructure, pay essential utility bills, or purchase necessary materials like paper, stationery and other materials that assist with the running of a school. 'Financial mismanagement can therefore potentially impact the conditions in which learning takes place and negatively affect how education is provided,' she said. Expand centralised payroll system To address these issues, Banjathwa emphasised the need to strengthen payroll oversight by expanding the centralised payroll system as this would greatly improve transparency and accountability. This would enable the department to know exactly who is employed at each school, how much they earn, and allow for timely detection of irregularities. However, he also noted that while some policies exist on paper, they are often not effectively implemented at the school level, which undermines their impact. 'For example the Public Audits Act, it doesn't necessarily audit individual schools, but it does audit the provincial government and national government which should rely mainly on the data that is given to them by schools. So that is the first loophole that you are able to see,' he said. Banjathwa also said that regular and standardised audits that go to schools would assist schools greatly. 'It's also very important to have a standardised and mandatory training given to members of the SGBs, because that's another issue that is quite problematic. Most of these individuals do not have financial training, so they are unable to pick up these loopholes timelessly and that's a very huge problem,' he said. Petherbridge voiced similar solutions, calling for enhanced training and capacity-building for SGBs and emphasising the Department of Basic Education's responsibility to ensure this under the South African Schools Act. 'One solution may be to further train and capacitate SGBs on their roles and responsibilities and the Department of Basic Education has a responsibility to ensure such training in terms of the South African Schools Act. However, learners and parents are also free to inspect a school's financial documents and may request to see these and ensure further accountability,' she said. Regarding the recent sentencing in the case, Petherbridge believes it sends a positive message about accountability but that additional measures could be more impactful. 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