Noxolo Lugayeni, the chairperson of the school governing body at Upper Mvenyane Senior Primary School in Cedarville, near Kokstad, said a representative from the company Outconnect arrived in the middle of the night to deliver a rusty shipping container to be used as a mobile kitchen, and spray-painted it.
“We thought they would build us a kitchen and we even earmarked a space where the kitchen was to be constructed. Then R250 000 was deposited into the school’s account for the purposes of this kitchen and, before we knew it, an instruction was given to the principal to sign a cheque for R250 000 and pay a company, which would deliver a mobile kitchen. The principal did as she was told. We think the school may have been used to facilitate corruption.
The community also built the pit latrines, but they are unfortunately too big for the smaller children to use, which makes staff worry that a child will fall into one of them and drown. The principal, Priscilla Dlangamandla, said the container was delivered in March last year and Outconnect was paid less than three weeks later.
“We were then instructed to transfer the whole amount to the company that had delivered the container. I mean, do you think this container can be worth R250 000?”“This container was painted here at the school. It was old when it arrived and had rust all over it. It was clear that it had been used before. The container was empty. Inside, it only had a sink, a storeroom and shelves. We had to buy everything else ourselves as the school,” she said.
Mgoma, whose company was established in 2013, said they were specialists in converting shipping containers and would buy second-hand ones that they then converted into kitchens. When asked how much they bought the containers for, Mgoma said a 12m one like Mvenyane’s would cost R30 000 second-hand.
Our government is honestly failing us
Criminal.