THE ANC youth league in the province has called on Premier Phumulo Masualle to reshuffle his cabinet and replace Education MEC with new blood.
Addressing a press conference at the ANC’s provincial headquarters in King William’s Town yesterday, Eastern Cape youth league secretary Butsha Lali said since Makupula took over as Education political head in 2010, but there has been minimal or no improvement in the matric results.
Lali was referring to the province’s matric performance since the MEC took over as the political head. The Eastern Cape has always been at the bottom end compared to other provinces, with the 2015 results regressing from 65.4% in 2014 to 56.8% in 2015.
Lali said: “The results are a reflection of an ailing system in the province and the devil is in the administration. We will engage the ANC on the drastic measures to be employed in order to safeguard the future of the youth of the Eastern Cape.
“For us these measures include the removal of the MEC from the education portfolio and redeployment elsewhere. The MEC has been at the helm since 2010 and all his efforts have been witnessed. We do not believe that there is more creativity forthcoming from his leadership to take us forward,” he added.
Another issue the League has identified as draw back in the department is vacant accounting officer position. The position has been vacant since the suspension of superintendent general Mthunywa Ngonzo in June last year.
This was despite the Bhisho high court ruling in Ngonzo’s favour, stating that Makupula had no powers to suspend Ngonzo as he was hired by the Premier. The Dispatch reported two weeks ago that a day after the ruling, Masualle put Ngonzo on special leave again.
The YL came to Ngonzo’s defence yesterday, with Lali saying: “The HOD must be reinstated to stabilize the administration as his absence has not proven to be legally sound and justifiable.”
He said a complete overhaul of the administration was necessary.
Records show that not a single pupil passed at at least two King William’s Town district schools in 2015. These weere at Jama Secondary School, where all 22 matriculants failed, while the 12 matrics who sat for exams at St Thomas School for the deaf in the same district all failed.
Lali said the department would have to fire the district directors of districts that “have been performing below average and the principals of schools that have repeatedly failed to produce results.”
ANCYL calls for Makupula's head
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