The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) and its dearth of “educational leadership” were to blame for the dire state of education in the country‚ the Congress of the People (COPE) said yesterday.
“Sadtu has allowed its officials to capture the control of education and make it their plaything and fiefdom‚” the party’s Dennis Bloem said.
“Instead of being an occupation union with its focus on professional development‚ Sadtu is an out-and-out political organisation pursuing a political agenda.”
His comments come a day after Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga released some of the findings of an interim report into a “jobs for cash” scandal in the sector.
While Motshekga did not name Sadtu specifically on Thursday‚ she admitted the practice was widespread and “has undermined government’s ability to deliver on its priority which is education‚ by allowing unions to have a stranglehold on government whereby they call the shots”.
Bloem‚ however‚ did not hold back: “Even though Sadtu is aware of all of the allegations‚ going back many years‚ it did nothing whatsoever to clean up its act. It allowed the rot to spread.
“Sadtu has also done nothing to make teaching a respected profession attracting the best brains. Young people are reluctant to take up teaching and those who remain as teachers are very unhappy.
He urged swift police action “ against those who committed criminal offences in selling posts”.
Bloem also took issue with the union’s member being appointed as “electoral officers and as temporary staff” of the Independent Electoral Commission for next year’s municipal elections.
He said the union is “to all intents and purposes” the ANC‚ and “therefore‚ for Sadtu members to be appointed as electoral officers and as temporary staff of the IEC is the same as appointing staff of Luthuli House to oversee elections”.
COPE was opposed to this.
COPE slams Sadtu’s ‘stranglehold’
“Sadtu has allowed its officials to capture the control of education and make it their plaything and fiefdom‚” the party’s Dennis Bloem said.
“Instead of being an occupation union with its focus on professional development‚ Sadtu is an out-and-out political organisation pursuing a political agenda.”
His comments come a day after Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga released some of the findings of an interim report into a “jobs for cash” scandal in the sector.
While Motshekga did not name Sadtu specifically on Thursday‚ she admitted the practice was widespread and “has undermined government’s ability to deliver on its priority which is education‚ by allowing unions to have a stranglehold on government whereby they call the shots”.
Bloem‚ however‚ did not hold back: “Even though Sadtu is aware of all of the allegations‚ going back many years‚ it did nothing whatsoever to clean up its act. It allowed the rot to spread.
“Sadtu has also done nothing to make teaching a respected profession attracting the best brains. Young people are reluctant to take up teaching and those who remain as teachers are very unhappy.
He urged swift police action “ against those who committed criminal offences in selling posts”.
Bloem also took issue with the union’s member being appointed as “electoral officers and as temporary staff” of the Independent Electoral Commission for next year’s municipal elections.
He said the union is “to all intents and purposes” the ANC‚ and “therefore‚ for Sadtu members to be appointed as electoral officers and as temporary staff of the IEC is the same as appointing staff of Luthuli House to oversee elections”.
COPE was opposed to this.
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