'Gupta’s will never touch our money' – Sadtu
Durban – A senior SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) official has assured thousands of members that the infamous Gupta family would not be allowed to rob South Africa.
"The Guptas will never touch our money. Anyone who thinks our money is ready to be looted and moved to Dubai is lying to himself and will be in for a fight. We will fight as Sadtu," general secretary Mugwena Maluleke said on Friday.
Maluleke was speaking in Durban during a protest march in which the union demanded, amongst other things, that important posts be filled.
Maluleke said that SA needed a change in leadership.
"How can we have a country with this much corruption? We are saying that it needs to stop and we must fight for it to stop, no matter what. We cannot be led in the way that harms our people."
He added that the union "would not let anyone" loot the Public Investment Corporation.
"This is our money. We must use it for our children and our country."
'Something is wrong here'
According to Maluleke, the union’s national general council (NGC) had resolved to work harder at improving teaching conditions.
"This march is about our members. This march is about our children. This march is about our country. No longer should you work in strain."
Maluleke added that the NGC had called for public education to be fully funded by government.
"Teachers are working in intolerable conditions. We are going to ensure that public education is funded fully by our government and we are going to downgrade privatisation of education."
Our crowd is getting a lot more vocal now. #Sadtu @TeamNews24 pic.twitter.com/xaChXM041w— Kaveel Singh (@kaveels) October 13, 2017
And we have some impepho going at #Sadtu march in Durban. Energy is up. @TeamNews24 pic.twitter.com/3pwoj2gySQ— Kaveel Singh (@kaveels) October 13, 2017
And #Sadtu are on the move here in Durban. @TeamNews24 pic.twitter.com/8yPHH62NlB— Kaveel Singh (@kaveels) October 13, 2017
He said that the conditions in which children were educated were deplorable.
"How can you have our children still learning outside or in mud constructed classrooms? It is now 23 years, and it is enough time. Something is wrong here. We cannot allow this. We need our pupils to have what they need."
'We are here today to say no'
Meanwhile, KwaZulu-Natal Sadtu secretary Nomarashiya Caluza said that schools in rural areas continued to suffer.
"They are living with limited resources in their schooling environment. We cannot keep letting this happen. We are here today to say no."
Caluza led about 2 500 Sadtu members throughout the province in protest over poor teaching conditions.
"We are not going to sit back. We will keep making ourselves heard."
Department of Education officials were at Durban’s City Hall to receive the memorandum of demands.
KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE newsletter.
- FOLLOW News24 on TwitterNews24 (@News24) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from News24 (@News24). News24 is Southern Africa and Africa's premier online news resource reaching over 2.3 million local users each month.
