A teacher employed by the provincial government has admitted in court that she has earned her full salary with benefits for more than 18 years without working a single day.
Nontsikelelo Albertina Ngumbela, 64, was recently testifying in the high court sitting in KuGumpo City in a defamation case in which she is a defendant.
She said during cross-examination by advocate Shaughan Cole, SC, that she had become a “displaced teacher” in about 2007.
She explained that she had initially taught at the East London Technikon until it was merged with two other colleges to form the Buffalo City TVET College.
She said in 2007, teachers were offered the option of becoming employees of the TVET or remaining in the employ of the government.
“I then decided to remain with government because I did not understand this new thing that was put to us. I am still under the government to date.”
She said she had not taught a single class since 2007 but had been drawing her salary every month.
What makes Ngumbela’s case even more mystifying is that she continues to draw a teacher’s salary at the age of 64, though teachers in SA are required to retire at 60.
She insisted that she remained a teacher and was recognised as such by the department.
“Is it fair for me to say that you are a ghost employee in the department of education?” Cole asked.
Ngumbela replied: “Well, it is not so. A displaced teacher is not the same as ghost teacher.”
Cole accused Ngumbela of attempting to hide the information that she was, in reality, not a teacher as she had not taught a class for almost two decades.
“I put it to you that you hid that information because it is appalling,” Cole said.
“It is appalling that you are being paid a salary for 18 years and you have not entered a school.”
Ngumbela said: “My employer still knows that I am still a teacher. We went through all those phases and also through arbitration and my employer still regards me as a teacher.”
The department has closed hundreds of schools over the past decade as part of its school rationalisation programme.
Teachers at mothballed schools are supposed to be redeployed to vacant positions at other schools.
And while Ngumbela gets to sit at home, basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube revealed in a written reply to a question in parliament recently that there were 27,092 vacant teaching posts in the country.
The Eastern Cape had the highest number of vacancies at 5,730.
KuGompo-based lawyer Laila Clarke is suing Ngumbela for R900,000 after Ngumbela suggested in letters to the body corporate of her housing complex that Clarke and her firm, Conlon Prop, lacked the required registration with the Property Practitioners’ Regulatory Authority or the Legal Practice Council and should not be allowed to manage the complex.
In court papers, Clarke said she and the firm had all the required registrations and that Ngumbela’s allegations were wrong and defamatory.
She had persisted with the allegations despite being issued with a “cease and desist” letter.
The case is ongoing.
Cole told the court he had raised the issue of Ngumbela’s employment because she had claimed to be a teacher which was a position of “high esteem”.
However, a ghost employee was a different matter, he said.
Provincial education department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima confirmed that Ngumbela was still on the department’s payroll and said the department was investigating how this had happened.
“Unfortunately, most of those who were in leadership roles at the time and would have known about this case have since retired.
“It will take some time to find documents pertaining to arrangements made 18 years ago to establish who authorised the arrangements and what those arrangements actually were.”
He said there was additional complexity owing to the fact that there had been several different entities involved in the transfer of staff in that period.
“The department has already contacted several of those retired staff and we are piecing together the puzzle to get to the bottom of this.”
Daily Dispatch
