SADTU continues to block principal performance agreements

It has been revealed in Parliament that the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) continues to block the implementation of principal performance agreements across the country.
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) failed to indicate the proportion of principals who signed performance agreements in its Annual Performance Plan because according to the Auditor-General’s office the DBE is “currently negotiating with Unions on the matter.”
In other words, SADTU is preventing the implementation of principal performance agreements.
School leadership is often the decisive factor that determines whether a school succeeds or fails. It is, therefore, crucial that principals adhere to basic performance standards in order to improve the quality of education in public schools.
In 2012 the DBE promised that all principals would have performance contracts signed by the end of the year. That never materialised because of SADTU resistance. In 2014, the Minister again announced in Parliament that the plan would be implemented.
It’s been 5 Years since Motshekga promised performance contracts and DBE is still ‘negotiating’ with SADTU on what should be a basic aspect of employee contracts.
The impact of failing to implement principal performance contracts is serious. A reply to a parliamentary question received last year revealed that no principal has been dismissed for poor performance in the past five years, despite the many schools that continue to offer children a sub-standard education.
SADTU has been allowed to block accountability in our school system for too long. The DA has written to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, Ms. Nomalungelo Gina, to request that she summon Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, to explain the delay in implementing the performance agreements.
Minister Motshekga needs to stop caving into SADTU and take control. The children of this country deserve Principals who perform excellently and, when they don’t, are held to account for poor performance.

Motshekga should ban Hlaudi from politicking at schools

Tomorrow, the disgraced former SABC COO, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, is scheduled to visit Eqinisweni Secondary School in Ivory Park, Tembisa.
According to the media invitation, Motsoeneng aims to “keep the youth of South Africa motivated to study and focus in prioritizing education and self-discipline.” He will also, apparently, “provide tips and strategies for studying”.
One wonders what study tips Motsoeneng can offer when he himself failed to obtain a matric, and was found by the Public Protector to have lied when he claimed that he had a matric qualification.
He has also not hidden his disdain for schooling, claiming that “too much education is dangerous…it’s like overdosing on your medicine”.
Motsoeneng is hardly a role model for any young person to emulate. Besides lying about this matric, he was found guilty of artificially inflating his SABC salary, purging and intimidating SABC staff members and running the public broadcaster into the ground.
More serious is the political nature of the event, which seems to be part of Motsoeneng’s ongoing political campaign following his suspension from his position at the SABC.
As Motsoeneng said last month: “You may say you don’t want Hlaudi, it’s fine. But Hlaudi is going to lead you on another platform …People are calling me to politics.” The ANCYL in the Free State announced its intention to nominate him as a Member of Parliament, and Motsoeneng himself has stated that he will “take any leadership position in government.
Section 33A of the South African Schools Act is quite clear that political activities during school time are prohibited. I have therefore written to Minister Angie Motshekga to request that she prevents Motsoeneng from conducting his political campaign in schools.
Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s toxic influence was felt at our public broadcaster for far too long. We cannot allow him to extend his tentacles into our public schools.

Motshekga’s Vuwani comments are reckless

The DA will write to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, Ms Nomalungelo Gina, to request an urgent joint meeting with the Portfolio Committees on Police and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, in terms of National Assembly rules 167(e) and 169.
This is after the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga’s, reckless utterances regarding the protests in Vuwani today. Motshekga was quoted saying that “If they continue to burn schools, let it be. Last year they really disrupted us – we didn’t get to other areas because we were all running to Vuwani. This time I am not going to Vuwani.”
The Minister’s sentiments are unacceptable, considering that, to date, approximately 30 schools have either been torched or severely damaged in violent protests in Vuwani. Renewed protest action has left almost 30 000 pupils out of school this week alone.
Instead of throwing her hands in the air, the Minister must find a durable solution to the grievances of Vuwani residents, and the injustice to these school children.
Last year the residents of Vuwani and neighbouring villages launched a protest against government plans to incorporate their villages under the new Malamulele municipality. When residents lost a high court bid to overturn the demarcation board decision, they resorted to violent protests.
The crisis in Vuwani has been left to fester for too long and Parliament must now intervene to assist in finding long-lasting solutions.
The DA does not condone any form of vandalism and violence, and we will explore every possible avenue to ensure that the education of these 30 000 students are prioritised. We cannot allow that the protests action of Vuwani residents to further infringe on learners’ Constitutional right to education, similarly we cannot allow the Minister to shirk her responsibility in this regard.

Motshekga must repudiate Dlamini-Zuma

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga should come out and defend public schools against Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s baseless attack on them this weekend.

ANC Presidential-hopeful Dlamini-Zuma claimed it was not surprising that learners thought the ANC was corrupt and useless, because this is what they were being taught at school.

Dlamini-Zuma’s comments can only be interpreted as a direct attack on Minister Motshekga, since it’s the Minister’s job to ensure that the curriculum is appropriate and that schools are not politicised.

It is therefore incumbent on Minister Motshekga to set Dlamini-Zuma straight on what is being taught in South African classrooms.

If the Minister happens to agree with Dlamini-Zuma, then she needs to explain how she has allowed public schools become a hotbed of anti-ANC sentiment under watch.

Either way, Minister Motshekga needs to protect the integrity of the school system by making a public statement on the matter.

When all is said and done, we know the real reason why people in South Africa think the ANC is corrupt. And it has nothing to do with the school system.

People think the ANC is corrupt for the simple reason that the ANC is actually corrupt. No amount of deflection from Dlamini-Zuma or anybody else is going to change that.

193 grade 3, 4 and 5 school children fell pregnant

A response to a DA parliamentary question has revealed that 193 pupils in Grades 3, 4 and 5 fell pregnant between 2014 and 2016. If school children from Grade 6 and 7 who fell pregnant are added, this number increases to 1 449 children.
This information should shock every South African. Young girls, most under the legal age of 16, are having their futures undermined, likely through being taken advantage of or abused.
The DA will urgently submit further parliamentary questions to find out if these girls are under the age of 16 and if so, whether any charges have been instituted against those responsible, as this would be statutory rape. We will also investigate whether these girls have since returned back to school, following the birth of their child, what support the school and the Department of Basic Education have provided them to catch up on the syllabus, and whether counselling and other emotional support has been provided.
The parliamentary reply showed that 18 357 pupils fell pregnant in 2014, 15 504 in 2015, and 8 732 in 2016.
Although the overall numbers seem to indicate a drop in school pregnancies, the Department of Basic Education was not able to provide the statistics for Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. Traditionally, these two provinces account for large numbers of school pregnancies, a total of 6 477 in 2014 and 5 178 in 2015 combined.
It is vital that the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, provide these missing numbers as a matter of urgency so that a realistic and honest assessment can be made and solutions can be found.
These young girls cannot be lost to the system and the department must follow up to ensure that they continue to attend school.
Keeping children in school should be our major priority if we are to ensure that every person, no matter the circumstances of their birth, are able to live a life they truly value, filled with opportunity. This is something the DA will continue to fight for.

SACE fail to answer corruption allegations and Minister must now investigate

On 20 January 2017, the South African Council of Educators (SACE) committed to respond, in writing, to the allegations of corruption put to them by the DA by the end of February. However, a month has passed and the DA is yet to receive any correspondence from SACE on the matter.
The DA will now present these allegations of corruption to the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, to demand that she investigate possible corruption at SACE.
SACE is mandated to ensure that teachers and principals who are accused of misconduct are held to account. Their role is, therefore, critical in ensuring our children are kept safe from those educators who wish to harm them.
The DA condemns the failure by SACE to respond to these allegations and they must be held to account for their lack of transparency when it comes to their own misconduct.
Whistleblowers have alerted the DA to various irregularities at SACE, including:

  • The CFO not having the qualifications, skills and experience for the position, and resorts to intimidation to scare off any objections to his alleged corruption;
  • The COO appointing unqualified investigators to probe corruption;
  • Nepotism regarding administrative positions at SACE;
  • The IT systems at SACE being improved by a company without a proper tender process; and
  • Irregularities regarding the salary pay scale of SACE employees.

In the meantime, the Public Protector has been investigating these allegations, as well as a long list of other alleged corrupt activities at SACE.
The abrupt resignation of the CEO of SACE, Rej Brijraj, on 31 January 2017, has lead the DA to believe that there may be substance to the allegations.
The DA demands that Minister Motshekga provide clarity on her department’s awareness of the possible crisis at SACE and her assurance that she will investigate the matter fully.