The Eastern Cape Department of Education has been warned to resolve the crises with teacher shortages and non-payment of salaries – or heads would roll.
The warning came from the ANC through its provincial secretary, Oscar Mabuyane, amid demonstrations in the northern areas of Nelson Mandela Bay since Monday, where protestors clashed with police.
The shortage of teachers and non-payment of hundreds more are at the heart of the dispute.
Police had to fire rubber bullets and tear gas to defuse the protestors in Port Elizabeth on Monday, who retaliated with petrol bombs and stones.
Mabuyane said the department’s records contradicted what was happening on the ground, stating that a human resources official would need to explain the inconsistency.
He said records of principals in the affected area showed that schools needed 100 more teachers, while district office claims were that only 50 teaching posts were vacant.
The district office later changed its tune and admitted more posts were vacant.
“All we are asking for as the ruling party is for the acting head of department to do his job of managing the department, and the education MEC must provide leadership,” said Mabuyane.
The department has been functioning with an acting head of department (HOD), Ray Tywakadi, for more than a year, after MEC Mandla Makupula suspended Mthunywa Ngonzo over allegations of maladministration.
“This instability of not having a permanent HOD is at the root of the problems,” he said.
Education department spokesman Loyiso Pulumani assured those affected that everything was under control.
He said 173 vacant posts were advertised to fill teaching positions for grades 11 and 12 in the northern areas, but 67 schools had yet to fill those positions.
In fact, Pulumani said, education MEC Mandla Makupula announced yesterday that 45 more teaching posts would be funded for schools in the Northern areas, in addition to the 67 not yet been taken by qualifying teachers.
Pulumani said it was important to note that the Port Elizabeth area was also faced “with a peculiar challenge of scarcity of Afrikaans mother-tongue teachers of critical subjects like mathematics that makes it a challenge to fill available posts even after a national call was made for them,” said Pulumani.
He said all principals and teachers from affected schools should feel free to verify the figures at district offices from tomorrow.
ANC warns ‘heads will roll’ over teachers
The warning came from the ANC through its provincial secretary, Oscar Mabuyane, amid demonstrations in the northern areas of Nelson Mandela Bay since Monday, where protestors clashed with police.
The shortage of teachers and non-payment of hundreds more are at the heart of the dispute.
Police had to fire rubber bullets and tear gas to defuse the protestors in Port Elizabeth on Monday, who retaliated with petrol bombs and stones.
Mabuyane said the department’s records contradicted what was happening on the ground, stating that a human resources official would need to explain the inconsistency.
He said records of principals in the affected area showed that schools needed 100 more teachers, while district office claims were that only 50 teaching posts were vacant.
The district office later changed its tune and admitted more posts were vacant.
“All we are asking for as the ruling party is for the acting head of department to do his job of managing the department, and the education MEC must provide leadership,” said Mabuyane.
The department has been functioning with an acting head of department (HOD), Ray Tywakadi, for more than a year, after MEC Mandla Makupula suspended Mthunywa Ngonzo over allegations of maladministration.
“This instability of not having a permanent HOD is at the root of the problems,” he said.
Education department spokesman Loyiso Pulumani assured those affected that everything was under control.
He said 173 vacant posts were advertised to fill teaching positions for grades 11 and 12 in the northern areas, but 67 schools had yet to fill those positions.
In fact, Pulumani said, education MEC Mandla Makupula announced yesterday that 45 more teaching posts would be funded for schools in the Northern areas, in addition to the 67 not yet been taken by qualifying teachers.
Pulumani said it was important to note that the Port Elizabeth area was also faced “with a peculiar challenge of scarcity of Afrikaans mother-tongue teachers of critical subjects like mathematics that makes it a challenge to fill available posts even after a national call was made for them,” said Pulumani.
He said all principals and teachers from affected schools should feel free to verify the figures at district offices from tomorrow.
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