#KeepKidsSafe: DA responds to SADTU at final Essential Services Committee hearing

The statement below follows the final Essential Services Committee hearing on essential services in basic education, where DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Education, Khume Ramulifho MPL, made a verbal submission. DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Nomsa Marchesi MP presented the DA’s response to the submission by SADTU. Please find attached soundbites by Nomsa Marchesi MP, in isiXhosa, Sesotho and English, and in Afrikaans by DA Member of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, Sonja Boshoff MP

Today, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Nomsa Marchesi MP, and DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Education, Khume Ramulifho MPL, attended the final Essential Service Committee (ESC) hearing on essential services in basic education.

We commend the ESC for the professional manner in which they have presided over the hearings and are pleased that they have taken the DA’s call to keep our children safe seriously.

Over the past two weeks, DA public representatives have travelled across the country, calling on the ESC to establish a minimum service level for school staff so learners can be safe during strikes or when staff members attend union meetings.

Earlier this year, two Eldorado Park Secondary learners stabbed each other while teachers were on strike. Such incidents can be avoided with proper adult supervision and the presence of some school staff while others are on strike can reduce  risks to child safety.

The South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), however, appears to have little regard for learner safety and have been misrepresenting our call to keep children safe by claiming that we want to take away the right of all teachers to strike.

This is not true; the DA believes in upholding the right of workers to strike, but we equally believe that the safety and well-being of learners must always be prioritized.

Our submission to the ESC is based on three main concerns that, when addressed, can improve learner safety:

  • Leadership and safety: The presence of senior school staff is vital in ensuring communication with emergency services or other authorities in instances that threaten learner safety and during union meetings or strikes.
  • Supervision: Adults must be on hand to supervise learners, maintain discipline and deal with threats to learners.
  • Nutrition, health and hygiene: Learners who suffer from chronic illnesses, who have special needs and have specific health requirements will benefit from senior staff members always being around to take care of them. School staff also have a responsibility to ensure that learners have access to clean facilities and food.

With the hearings now completed, we trust that the ESC will favourably consider the submissions we have made over the past two weeks.

Establishing a minimum service level for school staff will allow children to learn without fear and help them become equipped with the skills they will need to get jobs and create prosperous futures for themselves.

SADTU must prioritise children and support our call to keep them safe. The union is jeopardising children’s futures and denying them the right to safety by refusing to help bring about a safe learning environment for them.

#KeepKidsSafe: SADTU trying to score political points at learners’ expense

The statement below follows an Essential Services Committee briefing on essential services in basic education, where DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education, Nomsa Marchesi MP, made a verbal submission. Please find attached soundbites by Nomsa Marchesi MP in isiXhosa, Sesotho and English and in Afrikaans by DA Member of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, Sonja Boshoff MP. Please also find soundbites from concerned parents here and here.

Today, DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education, Nomsa Marchesi MP, and DA Member of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, Sonja Boshoff MP, attended the Essential Services Committee (ESC) hearing on establishing a minimum service level for school staff.

The DA wants a minimum presence of school staff during school hours to ensure that learners do not fall victim to any harm and Nomsa Marchesi MP called for this at today’s hearing.

The South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), however, continues to misrepresent the DA’s position by claiming that we wish to curb the rights of all teachers to strike taken away. This is not true. The DA wants some school staff to be present at schools during strike action and union meetings to ensure learner safety.

Our submission to the ESC is based on three main concerns:

  • Leadership and safety: The presence of senior school staff is vital in ensuring communication with emergency services or other authorities in instances that threaten learner safety and during union meetings or strikes.
  • Supervision: The presence of senior staff members will protect children from crime and violence, which has increased across the country.
  • Nutrition, health and hygiene: Learners who suffer from chronic illnesses, who have special needs and have specific health requirements will benefit from senior staff members always being around to take care of them. School staff also have a responsibility to ensure that learners have access to clean facilities and food.

Establishing a minimum service level for school staff will not only improve the safety of learners; it will also ensure they can learn without fear and work towards securing better futures for themselves and their families.

Our unemployment rate is now at 9.5 million South Africans and it is irresponsible of SADTU to oppose this call. The union is effectively jeopardising children’s futures by refusing to bring about a safer learning environment for learners.

The DA calls on SADTU to prioritise the safety of children and stop playing politics at the expense of learners’ rights. We also trust that the ESC will favourably consider the submissions we have made over the last week in the interests of our children and their futures.

SADTU proves it does not care about children’s safety

Today, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Nomsa Marchesi MP, and DA Gauteng Shadow MEC of Basic Education, Khume Ramulifho MPL, went to the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) headquarters to hand over a letter calling on the union to support our bid to have a minimum service level declared for key school staff by the Essential Services Commission (ESC).

SADTU officials proved today that they simply do not care about children’s safety by refusing to even read our letter to them. They eventually sent a security guard down to accept the letter.

The DA corresponded with SADTU ahead of our visit to their offices, stating our intention to hand over the letter. It is therefore disappointing that the union has mischaracterised our visit, claiming we intended to “barge into SADTU offices”, and refused to send an official to accept our letter.

They have also mischaracterised our call, saying that we are asking to make education an essential service. This is, however, an outright lie by SADTU. The DA has, for a long time, been calling for a declaration of a minimum service level for some school staff members and earlier this year, we submitted an application to the ESC on this.

We are pleased that the ESC has given our submission serious consideration and it is now up to SADTU to prove that it cares about the safety and security of all learners. SADTU wants to lock our children into poverty by jeopardising their futures whenever their members go on strike.

Abandoning learners to go on strike means that children are deprived of their rights to education, safety and security – there must always be senior staff members to ensure that children are not left unsupervised.

In requesting the ESC to establish a minimum service level, the DA raised three key concerns:
• Supervision: Adult supervision will ensure that children are safe from crime and violence, which have gripped schools across the country.
• Leadership and safety: During emergencies, senior school staff must communicate with emergency services or other authorities and make alternative arrangements where necessary. They must also ensure safety during union meetings or strikes.
• Nutrition, health and hygiene: Learners must always have access to food and clean facilities and it is the responsibility of school staff to ensure this. Staff also have to be available whenever there are medical emergencies. Learners with chronic illnesses and specific health requirements need constant care.

Establishing a minimum service level will therefore ensure that school staff members entrusted with protecting and caring for children carry out this duty.

We encourage all interested parties to submit comments regarding the establishment of a minimum service level. South Africa’s ever rising unemployment rate, which is currently at 9.5 million, will only go up if learners are denied quality education and prevented from learning.

Young people need to be properly prepared to enter the world of work and SADTU must ensure that this becomes a reality. We challenge SADTU to prioritise learners’ safety and education by publicly endorsing our call to make key school staff an essential service.

Sadtu intends to sow confusion with its remarks on principals’ right to strike

The DA notes the objection by the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) and other teachers unions to our proposal that the right of principals be limited and reiterates its call to the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, to prioritise the safety of our learners during tomorrow’s strike by liaising with the police.
With the matric exams scheduled to start soon, Motshekga must ensure there are plans by her department to avoid violence, intimidation and the disruption of learning as these exams are critical in shaping learners’ futures.
We encourage all learners to report any threats or harassment by SADTU and any injuries that may be inflicted on them by the union’s members. The DA will not hesitate to lay charges on behalf of these pupils and hold Motshekga accountable.
The move by the DA to have the posts of principals and their deputies declared an essential service is motivated by our concerns regarding learner safety and we will not relent until this goal is achieved. Learners are under the supervision of principals during the day and it is therefore important that their right to strike is limited as it is their duty to protect learners from the violence SADTU has become notorious for during its strikes.
The DA believes in the constitutionally enshrined right to strike and we are not suggesting that the limit is extended to all teachers.
The remark made by SADTU General Secretary, Mugwena Maluleke, that our proposal is a ‘political gimmick’ only proves that the union does not care about the safety, well-being and rights of children.
Our proposal is guided by the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) determination that it is reasonable to limit the right of certain education sector employees to strike and this is necessary as learners are the worst affected by strike action. South Africa is a signatory of the ILO and cannot act against its principles.
The insinuation by SADTU and other unions that the DA wants to widely limit the right to strike is intended to sow confusion and we condemn this with the contempt it deserves.

'Jobs for Cash': DA requests Public Protector to investigate

Minister Motshekga has made it clear that she does not have the political will to deal with the SADTU ‘Jobs for Cash’ scandal.
Yesterday, Minister Motshekga blamed district officials for the selling of teachers’ posts and exonerated SADTU. This flies in the face of the findings contained in her Ministerial Task Team report that sets out, in no uncertain terms, SADTU’s central role in the racket.
The Task Team found that SADTU bosses have captured 6 out 9 provincial education departments, and is using its power to inappropriately influence the appointment of teachers. This is set out most explicitly on page 119 of the Task Team report (emphasis added):
5.2 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE DEPARTMENT OF BASIC EDUCATION AND TEACHER UNIONS
The Department of Basic Education has retained semblances of managerial and administrative control in three of South Africa’s nine Provinces. These are the Free State, the Western Cape and the Northern Cape. In all other Provinces, SADTU is in de facto control. According to the data given to and gathered by the Task Team, this domination by a Union has been achieved by using combinations of the following ways and means:

  • through its history as a sector of the liberation movement;
  • by being an industrial and adversarial trade union;
  • by means of its incorporation of office-based educators as members;
  • its use of a repertoire of strategies to coerce teachers, principals, officials and others to accede to its demands;
  • by using teacher militancy to pressurise its members to be unionists first and professionals second;
  • by practising cadre deployment to ensure that high percentages of managers, decision-makers and others with power and influence in education are placed in well-paid positions where they can prioritise the Union’s interests;
  • by using of undue influence at different stages of the appointments process to ensure that its candidates are appointed;
  • by holding out the possibility for its prominent members to receive opportunity to achieve high office in the Department, Parliament and the Cabinet;
  • by blocking Departmental activities and programmes; and
  • using its membership of COSATU to influence the members of the Tripartite Alliance.

Minister Motshekga’s exoneration of SADTU is purely political. It indicates that she is more interested in securing SADTU’s support for Cyril Ramaphosa in the run-up to the ANC conference than rooting out systemic bribery and corruption in the education system.
Now that the Minister has washed her hands of the ‘Jobs for Cash’ scandal, it is up to independent institutions to hold SADTU to account for its central role in the buying and selling of teacher’s posts.
The DA will, therefore, be writing to the Public Protector to request that she investigates systemic bribery and corruption in the education sector at the hands of SADTU.
This doesn’t mean we will stop holding Minister Motshekga’s feet to the fire. We will keep using every parliamentary mechanism at our disposal to force her to act on the ‘Jobs for Cash’ report’s findings.
We cannot allow one union – aided and abetted by a politically compromised Minister – to damage our education system further. The future of South Africa’s children must not be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency.

It takes courage to stand up to our friends

Note to Editors: The following speech was delivered in Parliament today by DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education, Gavin Davis MP, during the Budget Vote on Basic Education.
Honourable Chairperson
I am not going to go into the many ways that our education system is failing poor children. Suffice to say that each one of us here wants a world-class education system for every South African child.
The truth is that some of us want it more than others.
Now I am sure that Minister Angie Motshekga wants a better education system. But she suffers from the same problem that afflicts all ANC politicians.
She is compromised by the internal politics of her party and its alliance partners.
She is bound up in a corrupt patronage network that prevents her from doing her job properly.
This is why she lacks courage when dealing with the number one problem in our schools. And the number one problem is that trade union bosses from the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) have captured our education system.
Now the Minister knows this very well. She just doesn’t have the guts to say it in public.
So allow me to report to this House what the Minister said in her correspondence with the South African Human Rights Commission on the subject of SADTU.
In this letter that I hold in my hand:

  • The Minister bemoans what she refers to as SADTU’s “hardened” attitude to measures to improve education.
  • She accuses SADTU of using policy matters as “bargaining chips” to get its own way.
  • She talks of SADTU’s “antagonistic approach.”
  • She says she is disappointed with illegal SADTU strikes, boycotts and stay-aways.
  • And she singles out SADTU as the culprit in the so-called ‘Jobs for Cash’ scandal.

Honorable Chairperson
You will never hear the Minister say these things in this House. And you won’t see her taking action against her alliance partners.
She doesn’t have the courage. Because she needs SADTU for her own political survival.
Now we all know that the Minister is supporting Mr. Cyril Rampahosa to become the President of the ANC. And we saw last week how Mr. Ramaphosa had nothing but praise for SADTU when he spoke at their Congress.
This is why the ANC cannot self-correct, even under new leadership.
The uncomfortable truth is that, for as long as the ANC is in power, our education system will remain captured by SADTU.
So we need to start thinking beyond the ANC, to a new government under a new President.
When a new government under President Mmusi Maimane enters the Union Buildings we will bring balance to the education system.
We think it is wrong that South Africa has the highest number of teaching days lost to strikes on the continent.
So we will initiate legislation that regulates teachers’ strikes, so that no child loses their right to a decent basic education.
And, instead of weakening School Governing Bodies – as the Minister wants to do – we will strengthen them so that they can help check and balance SADTU.
We will also implement recommendations of the ‘Jobs for Cash’ Report, such as stopping the cadre deployment of SADTU officials into provincial education departments.
Then, we will introduce bold new reforms to improve the quality of teaching, whether SADTU likes them or not.
We will start by implementing the teacher competency tests and Principal Performance Agreements that have been blocked by SADTU for five years.
We will introduce a National Education Inspectorate at arm’s length from government with the power to assess teaching and learning in the classroom.
Teachers who do not have the qualifications to teach – and there are still more than 5 000 of them in our schools – will not be allowed to teach.
To bridge the skills gap, we will aggressively headhunt excellent Mathematics and Science teachers from all over the African continent.
And we will bring back teacher-training colleges to give teachers the practical skills they need to make a meaningful impact in the classroom.
Finally, Honourable Chairperson, we will give parents more choice in their children’s education.
For example, we are looking at the introduction of a school voucher system. This will give poor parents the financial muscle to take their kids out of schools that don’t perform and into schools that do.
We are also looking at the rollout of Contract Schools. Because we think that private education providers and civil society should be encouraged to work with government to manage, develop and fund failing schools.
Now, SADTU will not like any of these proposals. But this will not stop us from putting children first.
Honourable Chairperson
I want to end off by commending the Minister for her “Read to Lead” campaign to get kids reading.
And I encourage her to take a leaf out of one of the best-loved children’s books, Harry Potter by JK Rowling. In it, the great Wizard Dumbledore says:
There are all kinds of courage. It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.
Stand up to your friends, Minister. Stand up to SADTU. Stand up for the children of South Africa.
I thank you.

Ramaphosa playing politics with children’s lives

The DA condemns Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s self-serving praise of SADTU over the weekend.
Cosying up to SADTU may help Ramaphosa’s chances in the ANC’s leadership election, but it hurts the prospects of poor children who suffer in an education system captured by SADTU bosses.
Speaking at the SADTU KZN Congress, Ramaphosa said: “SADTU has been a great boon, rather than a burden, to our education system.” He praised the union for “transforming” education and added: “Some people don’t like strong unions, but the ANC does.”
It is a great pity that Ramaphosa has chosen to prioritise his political ambitions over the future of poor children. As Deputy President, he must be aware of SADTU’s negative impact.
The evidence of SADTU’s destruction in our education system is plain to see:

  • The Ministerial Task Team report on the ‘Jobs for Cash’ scandal illustrated how SADTU controls 6 of the 9 provincial education departments through, amongst its connections to the ANC, encouraging militancy over professionalism, by coercing teachers, principals, officials and others to accede to its demands, and by using cadre deployment, bribery and corruption to ensure its members are prioritised for jobs.
  • SADTU has blocked measures to hold educators accountable such as regular assessments, competency tests and performance agreements for Principals.
  • SADTU members regularly embark on protests, strikes and stay-aways that deprive our poorest children of a decent education.
  • South Africa has more teaching days lost to strike action than any other country in Southern Africa.

This is why the South African Human Rights Commission is investigating SADTU’s role in denying children the right to a basic education, following a complaint lodged by the DA in September 2015.
SADTU’s iron grip on alliance politics means that no ANC politician dare speak out against it. As long as the ANC is in power, the more children will suffer at the hands of SADTU.
Ramaphosa is just like other ANC leaders: out of touch and lacking in moral courage. If we are to change the lives of South Africa’s children, power needs to change hands at the ballot box in 2019.

SA Human Rights Commission agrees to DA’s request to investigate SADTU

The DA has been informed that the South African Human Rights Commission is investigating the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) for its role in denying children the right to a basic education.
This follows the DA’s complaint to the Human Rights Commission in September 2015.
We specifically asked the Human Rights Commission to investigate the following:

  • SADTU’s blocking of measures to hold educators accountable for poor performance – including regular assessments, competency tests and performance agreements for Principals.
  • SADTU’s neglect of teaching and learning while engaged in various unlawful protests and strikes.
  • SADTU’s unlawful interference and corruption in the appointment of teachers and principals as exemplified by the ‘Jobs for Cash’ scandal.

It is the DA’s view that SADTU’s conduct violates the constitutional rights of learners across the country to a basic education, as well as the constitutional imperative that, in all matters concerning the child, “a child’s best interests are paramount”.
The DA, therefore, welcomes the willingness of the Human Rights Commission to investigate.
We are in the process of making detailed submissions to the Human Rights Commission to highlight the extent of SADTU’s toxic influence on our education system. We call on various stakeholders, including Minister Motshekga, the MECs in the various provinces and SADTU itself to co-operate fully with the investigation.
It is a tragedy that two decades after the end of apartheid the majority of our children are still prevented from receiving the quality education they deserve.
We need to remove all impediments that prevent our children from escaping poverty, and this means holding SADTU bosses accountable for their role in denying children a right to a quality basic education.

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.