The company appointed to deliver school workbooks to KZN pupils, has rejected allegations that they shredded the workbooks.
|||Durban - The company appointed to deliver school workbooks to KwaZulu-Natal pupils, UTi, has defended its reputation and rejected allegations that learning material needed in classrooms has been shredded.
UTi said the destroyed workbooks discovered at an Empangeni warehouse by Education MEC Senzo Mchunu were material from last year, and “irreparably damaged”.
On Thursday, in a statement signed by UTi divisions director Greg Saffy, the company asserted there was no evidence of criminality or corruption on its part.
“Once UTi had identified the schools for which the damaged books were intended, the workbooks (100 of them) were replaced and UTi delivered them directly to the schools concerned. This replacement was done within two weeks,” it read.
However, the company also stated that disciplinary steps would be taken against employees if deemed necessary once its internal investigation was complete.
The company also confirmed its ties with Lebone Litho Printers.
UTi is working with it (and printing giant Paarl Media) to distribute workbooks in KZN.
The three companies have a contract with the national Basic Education Department to distribute workbooks in all provinces.
On Wednesday, KZN Department of Education officials discovered that numeracy and literacy workbooks, for primary and high school classes in the Empangeni area (Uthungulu district), had been shredded.
A department spokesman, Panyaza Lesufi, said that if the team confirmed misconduct, the contract of the service provider would be terminated.
Police are also investigating.
The Mercury