Zingisa Msengi, the deputy principal at Dangwana Senior Secondary School in KwaBhaca (formerly Mount Frere), Eastern Cape, has been sitting at home for six years and raked in over a million rand in monthly salaries that also included annual increases.
Msengi, 50, said he had a fallout with the principal and some of the teachers at the school after there were allegations that he sexually harassed an educator, tried to court a pupil, did not accept the employment of the new principal and also did not mark grade 12 mathematics scripts in June 2015.
He joined the school in 2012 as the deputy principal but in 2014 had to start acting as the principal after there were allegations of the school headmaster being involved with the pupils and had to leave the school.
“In 2015 a bulletin to fill the principal’s post was published of which I also applied. Unfortunately, the post went to the current principal, Themba Mdondolo. I asked one of the school governing body (SGB) members why my application was turned down and he said they were looking for someone who specialises in maths,” he said.
Msengi said he decided to appeal the new principal’s appointment and tried to show the department that the process was flawed.
“That was when my problems started because there were allegations that I called Mdondolo names and did not want to work with him. There was a teacher who said I wanted to rape her and that I was trying to court one of the learners. I asked them to investigate the allegations and I had noticed that there were meetings held behind my back,” he said.
He said in December 2015 a district official called him to say they were removing him from the school as he was not safe.
“In January 2016 I was told not to set foot at the school until the investigation was over. The department only conducted the investigation in 2017 and I was cleared of all the allegations in 2019. When I went back to the school the teachers refused to work with me. I have been sitting at home ever since getting my full salary and the annual increments,” he said.
Msengi said all he wants is to go back to school and have his name cleared. “These allegations also affected my relationship with my wife and things are sour at home. My dignity has been dragged in the mud for things I did not do. The investigation has been completed but I am still sitting at home,” he said.
Mdondolo refused to comment and asked all questions be referred to the provincial department.
Eastern Cape education spokesperson Vuyiseka Mboxela said the department was aware of the matter. “It was partly resolved in 2019 but due to threats that were made by the community we felt it would not be proper for Msengi to return to school because his safety was at stake.
“The challenge is also around the fact that he does not want to be placed in other schools due to health reasons he is raising. The department is in the process of placing displaced educators who were evicted by communities; his placement is also taken care of,” she said.
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