Teacher paid almost R2.5m in salaries while sitting at home

A Mpumalanga teacher who has raked in around R2.5m in salaries while sitting at home is set to finish another year getting paid for mahala.

Ndifelani Ligege, 42, was a teacher at Umlambo Combined School in Amsterdam (near eSwatini border) before a big fallout with the school's principal and the school governing body (SGB) started after he reported a case of corruption and has not set foot in class since 2014.

Ligege had discovered that the school was allegedly paying a ghost teacher and after reporting the matter, it led to a lengthy and nasty standoff which saw him expelled from work for alleged poor performance in December 2014.

He was later reinstated in January 2015, however, he was not allowed to enter the school's premises by some of his colleagues serving on the school governing body.

In January, Sowetan reported that Ligege, an English and life sciences teacher, was set to return to the classroom after the provincial department of education had confirmed that he would be placed in a different school.

Ligege said the deal seemingly fell through when he asked about the terms of what the department had described as a temporary placement in another town.

"The department says I must report to new school on a temporary basis which I agree. But how long is this temporary relocation? They don't want to specify or quantify that," Ligege said.

He said as he lived with his wife and kids, he needed to know how long will he be placed at the other school so that he could decide if he needed to find accommodation nearer to the school or not.

"I have to buy new furniture and other appliances, including additional groceries. If I have to travel, who will take care of petrol and service of my car," asked Ligege who during his time at Umlambo school also served as chairperson of teacher union Sadtu for Amsterdam branch. 

With no answers forthcoming, he found himself back at square one and had been getting his monthly salary while not doing any work for yet another year. For four years, Ligege enjoyed a full salary, including his annual performance bonus which was only stopped last year.

"The department, which is my employer, will crawl to my knees like a sick dog begging me to relocate because they're corrupt and there's nothing they can do about it. I'm staging a war with my employer who is rotten to bone," Ligege said yesterday.

He added: "I for one am tired of being managed by unethical and immoral people who are shameless to steal from for our children."

Ligege is a vocal critic of corruption in the education system. In one of his Facebook posts, dated June 18 2012, reads: "I would like to call upon SADTU Amsterdam members, Ithole site in particular, to put their foot down and vigorously resist corruption... Amsterdam Circuit is not a Kingdom wherein Positions are inherited."

Comment from the Mpumalanga education department spokesperson Jasper Zwane:

The Department reached a settlement with the teacher in question in January 2020 to place him in one of the schools of his choice. To that effect, a  letter was sent to him advising him to report at Driepan Primary School effectively from the Monday, 03 February  2020. As things stand the expectation of the Department is that he must be reporting at the said school. Should there be issues  that require clarity, those must be raised while the teacher is rendering his services at the mentioned school. The Department remains committed to work with him  cordially to put this matter to rest.