PARENTS were furious when a woman failed to arrive at a meeting on Friday to address them about money they paid for a winter school programme that never happened.
More than 100 parents met at Molly Blackburn Secondary School in Khayelitsha in Uitenhage, Nelson Mandela Bay, expecting a woman to explain how she would clear up the mess she had made.
Parents said the woman had charged them R350 each for a winter school in King William’s Town, but when their kids were supposed to leave at the beginning of the month, it emerged she had not organised anything.
She later promised to apologise to the kids and return the money.
Parent Nombuyiselo Langbooi demanded that the SGB sign a cheque to refund them, but chairman Sipho Nyanga refused, saying he had not been present at any meetings with the woman.
He got angry at one point and said: “I am not going to sign a cheque!
“I am going outside now and if anyone wants to stop me, do it now!”
This led to a parent screaming at him: “Bhuti, we want our money! Don’t behave as if the school’s money is your money!”
Parents got into heated arguments until acting principal Mninawa Sithole intervened and called for calm.
“We are all in this mess and let us not point fingers.”
Maybe the SGB chairman has reasons for not wanting to sign the cheque,” Sithole said.
The SGB chairman later apologised to parents for losing his temper and said he could not sign a cheque as he would be handing over government money.
After the meeting, the SGB chairman instructed the principal to open a case of fraud.
Police spokeswoman Captain Gerda Swart confirmed that a case was opened.
Daily Sun attempted to contact the woman for a comment, but her phone went straight to voicemail.
