‘I am worried... we are losing people’

KwaZulu-Natal education department head Nkosinathi Sishi spoke out against the jobs-for-cash scam for the first time after attending the funeral of Thokozani Mkhwanazi (40) in Empangeni last week.

Mkhwanazi, the deputy principal at Nomyaca Secondary School in Eshowe, was gunned down at work three weeks ago. Police are investigating allegations that his murder was related to the principal’s post he applied for at nearby Enqobeni Primary.

This week, Sishi said he was freezing all positions where “would-be incumbents” were murdered.

He also appointed a team of investigators to investigate allegations that teachers were being killed over jobs.

Mkhwanazi is the second teacher in the province whose murder has been linked to the sale of posts.

In August, Nokuthula Magwanyana, a principal at Villa Maria Primary in Pietermaritzburg, was murdered, allegedly for her job.

“I am worried … we are losing people and allegations are being made. There are sufficient investigations about the selling of positions, but we continue to lose lives. I have never heard about another sector where other professionals kill to get positions,” said Sishi.

“We have decided to freeze these processes where people have been killed or threatened until the investigations have been completed.”

Sishi said speaker after speaker at Mkhwanazi’s funeral “made it clear that the killing was related to the selling of positions”.

Regarding Magwanyana’s murder, he said: “The fact of the matter is that she was warned to leave the position.”

Sishi said this week he had received calls from five teachers complaining of being threatened and intimidated into not applying for certain jobs. – Sipho Masondo