The Public Relations Officer in the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, Nomsa Zuze, has confirmed that the ministry had reinstated the Director of the Department of Student Placement and Welfare, Mosoma Kgotla, in his position this week.
Kgotla was late last year suspended from office together with his assistants, Cosmetic Molebatsi, Tinny Moleleki and Deputy Bontle Menyatso, under cloudy circumstances.
Molebatsi was shortly afterwards reinstated back into his position.
The other two officers in the Department, Menyatso and Moleleki, are still on suspension and Zuze has declined to say whether or not they would be reinstated as well.
“I cannot comment on that one, unfortunately,” was all she could say when asked about the issue.
As no information was given for their suspensions, people were left guessing on what could have led to their suspensions and, amongst those speculations, is one that they had been suspended to allow investigations by the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime, who were reported to have “camped” at the Ministry, to carry out their investigations.
Zuze has refused to comment on whether those investigations are still continuing at the Ministry, saying, ”The DCEC will be well placed to answer that question.”
DCEC officials have also refused to comment on the issue.
Other reports were that they could have been suspended because the Department had overspent their allocated budget.
The past year has seen the Jacob Nkate led Ministry of Education clashing with tertiary education students on many fronts.
On one of such issues, the students were up in arms against the Ministry’s refusal to sponsor students to retake examinations they had failed and to stop their allowances during school holidays.
The Ministry has backed its decision of stopping payment of allowances during holidays by saying that it was the parents’ responsibility to look after their children at such times.
This angered University of Botswana students to the extent that they threatened not to take part in the national elections due to take place in October, as a way of registering their concern at the way they are being treated by the Ministry.
Students from Limkokwing University this week took the Ministry of Education to court over unpaid allowances and won their case.
