Schools in the Free State account for 8% of the 1431 corruption complaints received by Corruption Watch in 2016.
This is according to the watchdog’s annual report on corruption in the country which was released on Tuesday.
The report also states that theft of funds, financial mismanagement, and employment corruption are among some of the most prevalent types of corruption found in the education system.
The NGO blames corruption in the education system on procurement policies and procedures of schools, which are often misunderstood by school officials, as well as a lack of systems to monitor the abuse of school funds nor to report corruption to authorities.
However, Free State Education spokesperson, Howard Ndaba, says there are systems in place to report corruption at schools or at educational departments.
Ndaba says “All the offices in the department have boxes where members of the public can deposit their allegations suggestions and complaints.”
He also adds that the department has an anti-corruption unit at which members of the public can register suspicious activities they’ve noted within the department.
Pulane Choane- BloemfonteinCourant
