Metro confirmed providing assistance for Sindiswa Gomba’s studies, and was adamant that there was nothing untoward about it
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The Buffalo City Metro Municipality (BCMM) paid for Eastern Cape health MEC Sindiswa Gomba’s tuition fees at the University of Fort Hare for an honours degree that the university admitted she irregularly registered for.
The municipality said it had committed to provide financial assistance for Gomba’s studies. At the time she was a councillor and was identified among those who needed to be upskilled to speed up service delivery.
The Sunday Times last week reported how Gomba was registered for a postgraduate degree in public administration without having a junior degree nor submitting a portfolio of work to be granted access through the recognition of prior learning process.
But just last month, BCMM was slapped with a R35,000 invoice for Gomba’s “student outstanding fees 2020”.
The municipality has come out to explain why it carried financial responsibility for Gomba’s registration at UFH.
According to BCMM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya, Gomba applied for funding when she was a councillor and the municipality has paid her bill because “she met the requirements and conditions of our policies”.
“The municipality has in place a policy that provides guidance on the provisioning of human resource development initiatives within Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in a manner which will ensure that the communities receive an efficient service delivered by skilled and competent officials, councillors,” said Ngwenya.
“This is done in compliance with applicable legislations, national strategies and regulations pertaining to the implementation of skills development initiatives. A conditional donation for study assistance is financial assistance for employees and councillors towards studies.”
UFH did not answer questions regarding why they accepted money from the municipality despite the admission that Gomba’s registration was “irregular”.
Instead, the university management on Friday, through vice-chancellor Prof Sakhela Buhlungu, issued an internal communication to staff and students announcing the suspension of Prof Edwin Ijeoma of the institution’s department of public administration.
Ijeoma is suspected to have been central in Gomba’s irregular registration, but sources at the university claim it was not only the MEC who registered without after due process.
