Five senior officials accused of defrauding the Eastern Cape education department of millions of rands were arrested by the Hawks on Monday morning.
Former chief education specialist Noxolo Valencia Gwarube, 50, former education superintendent general Mthunywa Lawrence Ngonzo (58), education deputy director-general and current acting superintendent general Monwabisi Raymond Tywakadi, 60, education deputy director in Information Technology (IT) Tyrone Graig Fourie, 48, and the director of Siegesmund Trust Hermanus Bouwer Smith, 47.
The accused were arrested on Monday and each granted a R5,000 bail by the East London regional court.
They have been all charged with fraud, corruption and contravention of Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).
Provincial Hawks spokesperson Captain Yolisa Mgolodela said 33 publishers were allegedly invited in 2014 by the Learner Teacher Support Material unit (LTSM) of the Department of Education to showcase their products.
“It is said that the participants paid exhibition fee to the Border Christian Centre where the exhibition was going to be held,” she said.
“It is further reported that the Department of Education had intentions of assisting schools by procuring Supplementary Resource Material (SRM) which included IT material like photocopiers and other technology material but not in that financial year.
“The LTSM unit under the control of the Accounting Officer had budgeted only for the procurement of textbooks. The LTSM unit never applied for virement of funds therefore their action was not known by Eastern Cape Department of Education and Provincial Treasury.”
Gwarube, former manager of the Eastern Cape department of education at the LTSM unit, allegedly misrepresented facts to the department that only text books would be procured by submitting expenditure approval requests to the acting deputy director institutional operations management.
Mgolodela said more than R204-million was allegedly approved for the procurement of textbooks.
The SRM in the application was misrepresented as textbooks.
“Gwarube is said to have submitted misleading documents to the internal control unit and supply chain management section that the textbooks were to be procured knowing well that she had included SRM to the value of more than R59-million thus reducing the money that was meant for textbooks,” said Mgolodela.
“It is further alleged that the exhibition fee paid by publishers to the Border Christian Centre was in excess with R120, 468 and the Centre sought direction from the department as to what to do with the money and Gwarube instructed the Centre to deposit the money into her husband’s account .
“The centre requested a letter from the department authorising the transaction. The former superintendent general Ngonzo wrote the letter while he was already on suspension at the time.”
It is alleged that Gwarube received gratification from Siegesmund Trust of which Smith was the director, in the form of 2 (two) laptops and a cellphone to ensure that the money (R59-million) for SRM was paid promptly into the business account of Smith.
During this orchestration by Gwarube, Mgolodela said, Tywakadi was the acting superintendent general as Ngonzo was on suspension. Fourie as the IT deputy director was also in office.
“The Eastern Cape department of education was defrauded cash to the value of R59-million,” said Mgolodela.
The case was remanded for July 8 for the handing over of copies of the dockets to the defence.
The provincial head of the Hawks Major General Mboiki Obed Ngwenya hailed the Hawks team after the breakthrough “in such a case where the disadvantaged children of the Eastern Cape are deprived an opportunity to own a textbook which is a gateway to a better future due to selfish greed.”
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