State mutes ill teacher

A Gauteng schoolteacher suffering a recurring voice loss syndrome has spoken out about her battle to regain her job.

Paula Gumbi, 47, said she was fired due to her vocal-fold paralysis problem and after suffering a spinal cord injury in a car accident.

There is also confusion on whether the primary school teacher was medically boarded without pay or was fired by the Department of Education due to ill-health.

Gumbi was declared fit to return to work by her neurosurgeon after she was "fired" in August 2017.

“I have been going to the department's office since. I cannot seem to get help or get anyone to listen to me.

I have, for a long time, been asking the department to give me a post in an office or allow me to teach a higher grade because my voice still comes and goes at any time.

“If then I cannot speak, I can write things down for the children to read, but I am not winning,” said Gumbi, a teacher with 25 years of experience.

In a letter dated December 1, 2018, a neurosurgeon confirmed that Gumbi had been his patient since August 2017.

“She suffers from multi-segment lumbar disk degeneration producing low back and leg pain with some limitation of general mobility. She has responded well to conservative measures and is currently on appropriate medications.

“She is anxious to return to full-time employment and I see no reason why she cannot cope with the mental and physical demands of her work in the human resources department. She is fit to resume work as from early January 2019,” the letter stated.

Gumbi, who started experiencing vocal cord problems in 2002 and was redeployed to do office work at another school, said she had been feeling healthy recently.

She said that when she took the neuro-

surgeon's letter to the department's offices last month, she was “turned away, as always”.

Gauteng Education Department spokesperson Steve Mabona said Gumbi could be considered to return to work "if she requests permission from an executive authority, who in turn will need an independent assessment report

(at her own cost), declaring her fit for work within the department.

"Based on the assumption that permission is granted, normal recruitment processes will have to be followed by her,” Mabona said.

Gumbi was made to sign a notice of intention for termination of her employment due to ill health in August 2017.

“Considering your continuous ab-

senteeism due to ill-health, the department has established that you cannot be gainfully employed within the department,” the letter stated.

“Ms Gumbi submitted a written voluntary application for ill-health retirement on August 29, 2017 and agreed to be medically boarded as per a letter from the head of department dated August 29, 2017,” Mabona said.

Gumbi said she had not received a salary from the department, which had led her to turn to a loan shark for money to make ends meet. Two of her children cannot finish their university studies.

Ntombi, 23, has a psychology degree from the University of Cape Town and wants to do her honours.

Mbali, 21, cannot finish her degree in branding at Wits due to a lack of funding.

“I took about R80000 in total and now I owe about R200000, which includes interest. I owe about R13000 in medical bills. I am struggling,” Gumbi said.

However, Mabona said that after Gumbi "retired", she was paid.

“Ms Gumbi submitted her application for the withdrawal of pension benefits on November 13, 2017. The first sets of documents were submitted to the Department of E-Government on November 16, 2017 and to the Government Employees Pension Fund on November 18, 2017.

"Ms Gumbi received payment of pension benefits on January 1, 2018. However, it was only for the period April 1, 2014 to December 31, 2017," Mabona said.

“The second set of documents was sent to the Government Employees Pension Fund on June 29, 2018 to correct the continuation of pension contributions from February 7, 1994. The Government Employees Pension Fund informed our office on October 5, 2018 that a shortfall of arrear pension contribution amounting to R92086 was owed. An amount of R92086 was paid over to the GEPF in December 2018. The fund has confirmed in writing receipt of the payment and that the process is ongoing at the latter department,” Mabona said.

@smashaba