Note to Editors: Please note Sakhile Mngadi, MPL soundbites in English and isiZulu
• DA tables urgent parliamentary questions after former Pinetown Girls High School principal is promoted to Acting Circuit Manager
• Officials with adverse findings and pending charges must be suspended
• Our schools should be centres of stability, discipline, and opportunity.
The DA in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Legislature has tabled urgent written parliamentary questions (view here) to Education MEC, Sipho Hlomuka, following strong indications of alarming governance and disciplinary failures within the Pinetown Education District. The claims relate specifically to Pinetown Girls’ High School and Westville Senior Primary.
The DA’s enquiries focus on a former Pinetown Girls’ High principal, suspended approximately three years ago following serious allegations of financial misconduct. Disturbingly, this individual has since been appointed as Acting Circuit Education Manager (CEM) within the very same district – an appointment that, if left unchecked, may severely undermine public confidence in the department’s integrity and oversight structures.
The DA has formally requested answers from MEC Hlomuka regarding;
• The timeline, charges and outcome of the disciplinary process against the former principal;
• The process followed in appointing this individual as Acting CEM, including whether any risk or integrity vetting was done;
• Whether the appointment was authorised with full knowledge of the unresolved allegations and disciplinary proceedings and;
• What strategic oversight, if any, has been applied to safeguard the credibility of circuit and district appointments.
This situation is compounded by ongoing instability at Westville Senior Primary School and reveals a troubling pattern. That of acting appointments made without transparency, underqualified or compromised individuals elevated to positions of authority and a lack of communication with key stakeholders – including School Governing Bodies (SGBs) and communities.
The DA is particularly concerned by MEC Hlomuka’s silence. The MEC has been conspicuously absent in recent months, offering little public guidance or reassurance as governance challenges multiply across schools in our province. This leadership vacuum is unacceptable. The responsibility to uphold public trust and ensure sound educational management lies squarely with MEC Hlomuka and his Department.
This is not simply a matter of Human Resource procedural failure – it is a symptom of a broader governance failures that threatens to destabilise our schools, province-wide. When individuals facing unresolved misconduct allegations are allowed to oversee school principals and financial governance structures, the risk to learners and the education system becomes profound.
The DA calls on MEC Hlomuka to take the following urgent actions:
• Suspend any departmental officials with pending or adverse findings from holding oversight roles;
• Conduct a full audit and review of all acting appointments within KZN’s education districts;
• Table any internal or external assessments conducted within the Pinetown District since 2020;
• Provide immediate clarification on strategic interventions to be pursued to restore accountability and leadership integrity.
The DA reiterates its commitment to safeguarding KZN’s learning environment, the integrity of educational governance and the fair treatment of all stakeholders. Our schools should be centres of stability, discipline, and opportunity – not arenas of political shielding and administrative dysfunction.
As part of KZN’s Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) the DA will continue to press for accountability, both within the Legislature and through appropriate oversight mechanisms, to ensure no learner in KZN is failed by the very system meant to serve them.