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Eastern Cape Premier Mr. Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane has placed Dr Naledi Mbude, Head of Department for Education, on precautionary suspension pending an investigation on critical matters impacting teaching and learning in the province.

The Premier informed the HOD on Tuesday, 05 April 2022 that the precautionary suspension with full pay is effective immediately.

This is a precautionary suspension in terms of the Disciplinary Code and Procedures for Members of the Senior Management Services (SMS) contained in Chapter 7 of the SMS Handbook for the public service.

The suspension of Dr Mbude follows a number of issues emanating from the work of the department including, the delays in the delivery of stationery to schools, delays in processing of payments for educator assistants over the 2021 festive season and also the under expenditure of infrastructure conditional grant leading to the return of R205 million to treasury.

The pre-cautionary suspension of the HOD creates space for government to investigate these matters. Premier Mabuyane has set up a team led by a Deputy

Director General at Provincial Treasury and comprising senior officials from the

Office of the Premier and Treasury to conduct a further enquiry on these issues and submit a report to him within a period of a month.

The Premier has also appointed Mr. Mahlubandile Qwase, a Deputy Director

General in the Office of the Premier as Acting HOD for Education pending the finalization of the investigation and any other related processes.

While the Premier views this as a matter of public interests, he will resist the temptation of engaging further on matters of employer and employee relation in the public domain.

Issued by Eastern Cape Provincial Government