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Mrs Nomalanga Khumalo reportedly misappropriated $15 200 of the school funds.
She is also alleged to have bought on behalf of the school, 10 head of cattle which were allegedly stolen from the community by her brother.
The matter has created tension between villagers from Mbembesi and Ntabazinduna, who lost livestock and the school authorities.
The 10 beasts were reportedly slaughtered to feed pupils at the Presbyterian Church-run boarding school.
Her brother has since been arrested for cattle rustling.
Mrs Khumalo was served with her suspension letter last Friday by the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture officials.
She was allegedly suspended for three months without pay, to allow the ministry to carry out investigations.
Sources from the church and the school said the church discovered the fraud last year and fired the boarding master who is her alleged accomplice.
“The boarding master, Mr Mazisi Mpofu, was arrested by the police for allegedly working in cahoots with Mrs Khumalo’s brother to steal cattle from the surrounding communities. They would keep the stolen cattle at the school before selling them. A total of 10 cattle were bought on behalf of the school by Mrs Khumalo and were slaughtered to feed the pupils,” said the source.
They said the amount that was allegedly stolen could be much more than the $15 200 discovered by the ministry because Mrs Khumalo had been paying back the stolen money since November last year.
“After firing the boarding master, the church struck a deal with Mrs Khumalo. They agreed not to report her to the police if she paid back the money.
“The school authorities however stripped her of her powers in January and asked her deputy, Mr George Simbanegavi, to take over the responsibility of running the school,” said a source from the church.
An official at the school said the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture officials got wind of the theft case when Mrs Khumalo was implicated in her brother’s cattle rustling case.
“The Ministry then sent an audit team to investigate. Mrs Khumalo made frantic efforts to reduce the amount that was recorded as missing by asking teachers and other members of staff to sign expenditure vouchers.
“A majority of them signed but the ministry still found $15 200 missing from the books,” said the official.
Mrs Khumalo declined to comment on the matter, saying her superior, the Matabeleland North Provincial Education Director, Mrs Boithatelo Mnguni, was better placed to speak on the issue.
Mrs Mnguni confirmed the suspension.
“Yes, Mrs Khumalo has been suspended. I do not have the full details of the suspension but I would like to stress that we are still investigating and we cannot conclude that she is guilty at this stage. I call on the media and the community to bear with us while we carry out investigations,” said Mrs Mnguni.
She said as far as the ministry was concerned, she was still the substantive head of the school until investigations were completed.
A comment could not be obtained from the school’s administrators at their offices along Leopold Takawira Avenue.
A woman who was at the reception refused to give Chronicle the cellphone numbers for the chairperson of Presbyterian Education Board in Bulawayo, Mr S Khumalo and the co-ordinator of education for the church in Matabeleland, Mr Victor Mthimkhulu.
She called Mr Khumalo, who said he was too far away to comment.
The woman then took this reporter’s number.
“Mr Mthimkhulu is out at the moment. I will give him your number and he will call you as soon as he comes in. You can keep trying our landline,” she said.
Several calls to the landline did not yield anything.
Online Reporter