R25m debt for teachers’ pay defies court order.
SCHOOLS in East London whose parents pay for teachers in state jobs have called for tough action against the heads of the national and provincial education departments for failing to obey a court order to repay millions due to them.
The Legal Resources Centre said the state was stalling on its commitment in court to the permanent appointment of 145 teachers to about 32 schools and the repayment of more than R25-million to these schools, which had to pay teacher salaries out of school funds when the department failed to pay them.
One teacher, who asked not to be named for fear of jeopardising legal proceedings, said yesterday: “Our parents have paid out so much for the state and we support a legal move to ensure that schools are reimbursed.” Another said: “This has been going on for a very long time. Obviously, we support any move to have that money paid out.”
Governing Body Foundation chief executive Tim Gordon said they had nine members in East London and 40 in total in the province. “It is important that money is recovered. Parents are paying state bills. We certainly support any strong means to have that money paid back.”
The LRC said it would resort to court to have both national and provincial basic education ministers and their departmental heads jailed for contempt of court after they once again failed to meet the terms of a court order they had agreed to.
The LRC has also put the provincial department to financial terms, and yesterday gave it 14 days before it will seek a writ to seize state assets to satisfy the R25-million debt.
LRC Grahamstown office director Sarah Sephton said that some four months down the line the department had not met one aspect of the court order.
“It makes no sense at all for the department to settle court actions when it has no intention of complying with the settlement.
“That the department is unable or unwilling to process 145 permanent (teacher) appointments in three months indicates a level of dysfunction that may explain why this province has such an acute shortage of teachers.”
She said all that was required was to process 145 letters of appointment.
Not a single school had been reimbursed for the money they had spent on teachers in 2013, she added.
The LRC, which represents all the schools, had not been given any explanation nor had the department approached them for an extension on the August 31 deadline.
The department’s failure, once again to meet the terms of the court order, does not bode well for an opt-in class action which followed hot on its heels.
The 32 schools, which include some of East London and Port Elizabeth’s top academic achievers as well as many of the province’s poorest schools, clubbed together to take the national and provincial basic education departments to court both on their own behalf and on behalf of all other schools in a similar predicament that wanted to “opt in” to the class action.
Some 90 schools have done so and are demanding more than R80-million from the department for money they have had to pay out in terms of teacher salaries.
They also want hundreds of vacant posts filled.
The class action was certified by the high court earlier this year with the consent of the department.
But, with the department unable to even meet its obligations to the 32 applicant schools, it seems questionable it will do so for the 90 other schools now involved in the litigation.
The department, which was e-mailed with a request for comment yesterday morning, had not done so at the time of writing.
Departmental spokesman Loyiso Pulumani indicated he was in meetings in Port Elizabeth with MEC Mandla Makupula but would try to comment as soon as possible.
Dozens of schools in the northern areas of Port Elizabeth have resorted to mass action to protest the lack of teachers in their schools.
Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Enver Surty and Makupula were expected to meet district education officials over the teacher shortage crisis there yesterday.