SCHOOLS IN CRISIS

A storm is brewing at Madiba Senior Secondary School as teachers and non-teaching staff raise explosive allegations against Masego Gaorengwe, the school head.The school head is accused of financial mismanagement, intimidation, and administrative failure. The crisis has culminated in a formal petition delivered to the District Commissioner’s office, demanding intervention and a change in leadership.According to Richard Mutale, a Physical Education teacher at Madiba, the school has been operating under a repressive and exclusionary leadership style.“She wants to run the school without other staff members,” he said.Mutale pointed to declining academic performance between 2022 and 2024, attributing it to Gaorengwe’s authoritarian rule. He said there is no transparency in how school finances are managed, and that trust in the headmaster has completely eroded.A key issue raised in the petition is Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) funds. Staff allege that Gaorengwe manages these funds personally, without proper oversight or procedure.They claim she handled procurement unilaterally, often excluding relevant committees and officers. The situation has prompted calls for investigations into PTA finances and school procurement processes.John Marage, a cook at the school, expressed frustration with what he described as a hoarding culture.“There have been times when we had to buy food for students ourselves while the school had money that could be used,” he said.Marage explained that this mismanagement has adversely impacted the students’ academic rhythm, leading some to leave school as early as 9am due to a lack of food. He expressed hope that thepetition would spark change and restore order.Refilwe Mogome, another teacher at the school, echoed these sentiments, saying the headmaster has halted vital processes and stripped the school of essential learning resources.“Learners have no textbooks, no teaching equipment,” she lamented, adding that Gaorengwe had stifled staff initiatives and dismissed progressive ideas that could have lifted the school’s performance.“She is an enemy of academics,” Mogome declared. She also alleged that Gaorengwe controls the PTA office, the procurement office, and even the school’s bursar's office, maintaining a tight grip on all school operations.At the core is the alleged misuse of PTA funds for personal benefit. Staff allege that Gaorengwe purchased a laptop, refrigerator, and building materials like cement and sand using school funds.These materials were allegedly intended for a screen wall at her institutional residence, an act that staff say is a gross misuse of public funds. The materials have since disappeared, fuelling suspicions of corruption.The school's procurement office has been rendered ineffective. Gaorengwe is accused of handpicking suppliers and sidelining procurement officers, violating established procedures.In one notable case, she allegedly ordered 5,000 arch-lever files from Northern Fixtures without following proper channels, resulting in non-payment and delays.The Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) seized procurement records on December 1, 2024, and has confirmed an ongoing investigation.The petition states that some suppliers reportedly refuse to deal with the school due to persistent delays in processing Government Payment Orders (GPOs), which staff attribute to Gaorengwe’s refusal to sign documents on time.Furthermore, the petition handed to the District Commissioner’s office states that, beyond the financial mismanagement, a culture of fear and intimidation pervades the school under Gaorengwe’s leadership.Teachers say they are verbally abused, threatened, and systematically victimised for speaking out. The petition details how she uses offensive and undermining language, surrounds herself with loyalists who monitor meetings, and retaliates against dissenters.This has reportedly led to a breakdown in teamwork, with staff choosing silence over confrontation, fearing reprisals.Favouritism and suppression of innovation are also among the complaints. Teachers say their ideas are routinely blocked, and a sense of powerlessness has settled in.The result, they claim, is not just a toxic work environment, but also a collapse in professionalism and school unity.The school's physical and learning environment has also been severely compromised. Sanitation is a major concern, with frequent water shortages and broken facilities forcing students to return home during breaks.Offers by the nearby Madiba Brigade to assist with installing a proper water system were allegedly rejected by Gaorengwe in favour of unnamed contractors, again raising questions about procurement motives.Conditions in the boarding department are dire. Staff say the school’s feeding programme regularly fails to meet basic nutritional standards. Students are reportedly served stale bread without spreads, and portions are often too small.The situation has become so desperate that the school Matron has been supplementing meals with food from her own home. Boarding facilities are in disrepair, with cold showers, non-functional electrical sockets, while some dormitories are completely without power.The delayed distribution of laptops for Form 4 students, crucial under the new Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) curriculum, has disadvantaged learners.A chronic lack of textbooks and notebooks has forced some teachers to buy supplies with their own money just to keep lessons going.Staffing levels in the boarding department have also deteriorated. Boarding assistants have been reduced from six to none, and staff are prohibited from working beyond 4:30 PM unless paid overtime, further straining the system.The result is a dysfunctional learning and living environment, which staff believe is a direct outcome of poor leadership and questionable decisions from the highest level.All efforts to get a comment from Gaorengwe were not successful. Her phone lines rang unanswered while text messages containing questions relating to the matter were not responded to until press time.

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SCHOOLS IN CRISIS