Meyerspark Primary School principal faces fraud charges

A school governing body (SGB) member has opened two cases of fraud against the principal of Meyerspark Primary School for allegedly submitting a misleading financial report to the Gauteng department of education and lending school money to third parties without informing the SGB.

Principal Ockie Vermeulen has been accused of misappropriating almost R70 000 and of being a “racist bully who behaves like a dictator”.

“The financial affairs of the school are kept by the chairperson and the principal between them, away from the SGB,” said the complainant, who opened the cases at the Silverton Police Station in Pretoria.

The SGB member, who cannot be named for fear of victimisation, said the principal also authorised the payment of R6 355.20 per month to a general assistant without the knowledge of the SGB. The same assistant is, however, allegedly employed and paid by the Gauteng department of education.

“The principal and the chairperson have colluded to mislead the SGB on this issue. They defended the payment and it continued. This unlawful payment has resulted in more than R69 000 being paid out from January 2018. This is the school’s money.”

The complainant claimed Vermeulen also hired an auditing firm to “cook the school’s financial records” and submitted an allegedly misleading report to the department. He alleged the principal also loaned money to people who were not employees of the school under the guise of salary advances.

“The auditing was done on June 30, 2018. The SGB was not consulted and did not sanction such auditing. The SGB does not even know how much the auditing work cost the school. The SGB was supposed to have authorised payment, if there was any payment to be made to this auditing company,” the source said.

“There are many unauthorised and unlawful transactions for the year that have been audited, yet they have not been noted by the auditor. The opinion of the auditor as presented on the report is not correct.”

Silverton police station spokesperson Captain Shawane Sepato confirmed that two cases of fraud had been opened.

When The Citizen sent questions to Vermeulen, he said he was unable to comment and referred The Citizen to the provincial department of education.

Gauteng education spokesperson Steve Mabona said the department was not aware of the fraud charges against Vermeulen. But it would investigate the matter.

“We have a responsibility to investigate any allegations that are brought to the attention of the department, both formally and informally,” said Mabona. “It must be noted that the department has attended the SGB meetings to assist them with their roles and responsibilities.

“However, we have observed non-adherence to policy prescripts by some members, which is concerning, and this will be raised with them.”

– news@citizen.co.za

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