The report blames him and other top officials in the department for not acting act against budget abuse and the constant deviation from protocol.
The 47-page report, which The Star has seen, was penned by the department’s former administrator, Dr Anis Karodia, who was fired by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga.
Karodia’s report lifts the lid on the bankrupt department and puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of a culture of nepotism and clock-watching.
The Karodia report was delivered at the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) during its four-day fact-finding mission to Limpopo in March. The Star previously reported that Masemola and Karodia had clashed on the sidelines of the NCOP gathering over the report and subsequently fell out.
Motshekga removed Karodia from his position two months later.
The report said the department spent about R25m a year on cellphones and landlines. It said that phones and 3G cards were “an abused commodity”, and a clear indication of the “rot” that had set in at the department.
The document said the department issued 1 806 cellphones which cost R1m a month and paid about the same for its landlines.
Karodia said he was forced to cut off some cellphone lines because of abuse. He reinstated them after implementing a policy of capping usage and putting cellphones on soft lock when limits were exceeded, the report said.
It was envisaged that for any over-usage exceeding seven months, the department would deduct the money from the responsible staff in a phased manner, he said.
Karodia warned that the abuse of 3G cards would also be investigated.
Pat Kgomo, the Limpopo education spokesman, dismissed Karodia’s report as baseless, “unsubstantiated allegations”.
The provincial education department went bankrupt in September, did not pay for textbooks for this year’s pupil intake, and was placed under administration in December by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. Thousands of pupils are still without textbooks and learning material, seven months into 2012.
Two forensic auditing companies have since found evidence of rampant maladministration that includes financial mismanagement, tender fraud, and the looting of the department’s coffers by various officials.
Source: The Star