Pretoria - Cosmo City Secondary in Gauteng has been placed under administration by the provincial Education Department following disruptions at the school last week.
Head of the Gauteng Department of Education, Boy Ngobeni, announced on Monday that he has placed the school under administration and dissolved the school governing body (SGB) after attempts to mediate the ongoing dispute between school principal, Wilheminah Matsebatlela, and SGB chairperson, Shumani Thomoli, had failed.
The SGB and Congress of SA Students have been calling for Matsebatlela's removal for allegedly mismanaging school funds.
Ngobeni noted that failure to mediate in the dispute was directly jeopardising the interests of learners at the school. Matsebatlela has been instructed to report to the head office, while a caretaker principal has been sent to the school.
"The duties of the administrator and the caretaker principal is to make sure that effective learning and teaching take place at the school, to ensure sound financial and administrative systems are introduced at the school and that a general climate of good governance, education and administration at the school is normalised," Ngobeni said.
He further warned that the department will be applying for an urgent court order to stop the SGB and parents from disrupting schooling.
"The department warns those individual parents and a handful of learners who participated in disruptions [on Monday] that they are breaking the law and we will not hesitate to press criminal charges against them."
