By Teboho Moloi
QWAQWA – A retired QwaQwa teacher says she has spent more than two decades fighting what she believes is a web of administrative irregularities and possible fraud that left her without the retirement security she worked for during nearly two decades in the classroom.
At 73, Mamohanoe Meriam Moteka says she entered the teaching profession in 1977 believing that years of dedicated public service would guarantee a secure retirement.
Instead, she says her career ended in turmoil and her pension records have raised disturbing questions that remain unanswered.
Moteka alleges she endured years of workplace harassment, was unfairly dismissed, lost her home and later discovered that official records reflected a husband she has never met or married.
She now questions whether someone fraudulently benefited from her Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) benefits.
She believes her ordeal began after she was appointed as a Head of Department (HoD) at a school in Lejwaneng, claiming that senior officials conspired to prevent her from assuming the position.
“The harassment I endured forced me to leave the school. I followed every grievance procedure available, but nobody came to my assistance. My complaints were never taken seriously,” Moteka told The Guard.
She produced a 1999 letter, seen by The Guard, informing her that the Department of Education regarded her as having absconded from duty between 19 April and 30 April 1999, warning that her employment would be terminated if she failed to report for duty before 7 May 1999.
Moteka disputes the contents of the letter, saying the initials used were not hers and insisting she had exhausted every internal avenue for assistance, including approaching the Office of the Public Protector, which she says later made follow-up enquiries.
*Pension shock*
The retired teacher says her greatest shock came years later when government employees were encouraged to verify their pension records with the Government Employees Pension Fund.
According to Moteka, her GEPF records listed a husband she has never known.
“The documents show a man as my husband, yet I have never been married. I don’t know this person. The records even identify him as Mr M.M. Moteka. I have never had a husband,” she said.
She says a visit to GEPF offices in Pretoria uncovered even more discrepancies.According to Moteka, officials informed her that their records reflected her government service as beginning in 1995, despite her insistence that she started teaching in 1977.
She also claims her benefit statement contains incorrect pension numbers, incomplete personal details and reflects a pension payout made in 2013 to someone she does not know.
“Who received that money? Who was paid my pension? Those are the answers I have been searching for,” she said.
*Home Affairs records contradict pension file*
Adding to the mystery, documentation from the Department of Home Affairs, seen by The Guard, confirms Moteka’s marital status as single, contradicting the alleged husband reflected in her pension records.
The apparent inconsistencies have left the former teacher demanding answers from the relevant authorities, saying she simply wants to know what happened to the retirement benefits she earned during her years of public service.
The Guard has approached the Government Employees Pension Fund and the relevant authorities for comment.
Their responses will be published once received.
One Response
She has all evidence required so those party should investigate single confirmed so people should account