Education circuit staff on the street

THABAZIMBI – The circuit office of the Department of Education in Thabazimbi had no access to their offices in Second Avenue last week Friday and Monday this week, because of unpaid rent.
The circuit manager, Mr Ruben Leshiba, and a few of his colleagues were offered the use of the premises of the Laerskool Thabazimbi for completing work that was mutually beneficial to both the school and the circuit office staff.
The spokesperson for the Department of Education in Polokwane, Mr Mangala, confirmed that the rent was overdue and that the circuit office could not operate from their offices. There were also power cuts and Telkom line cuts because of unpaid bills. By Tuesday, however, things were back to normal and the offices reopened after the arrear instalments were paid.
Apparently the circuit office, under which 43 schools in the Thabazimbi and Dwaalboom area resort, does not pay the accounts, but canalize payment requests first through the district office in Modimolle and then through head office in Polokwane, by whom accounts are settled. It seems that the cut Telkom lines were because of a misunderstanding between the Department of Education, who pays telephone bills in bulk (for all the circuit offices in Limpopo) and Telkom. There are 134 circuit offices throughout Limpopo.
The circuit offices throughout the province are still in the process of being established and developed, and he ascribes the problem with unpaid rent, electricity and telephone bills to teething problems, explained Mr Mangala. It is expected that these problems will sort themselves out in a while, he said.