Western Cape decision to slash teacher posts needs urgent public debate

9 September 2024

The GOOD party has requested the Speaker of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament to schedule a debate on the Western Cape Government’s decision to cut 2407 teacher posts, as a matter of urgent public importance.

The government’s notice to school principals and governing bodies of the proposed job cuts has led to widespread concern about the impact of this decision on the right of teachers to job security, and of all South Africans to a quality education system.

It is unfair to ask teachers to sacrifice their careers at the altar of a political fight that the Western Cape Government is unnecessarily orchestrating.  

It is particularly unfair on school communities in less affluent areas, which will bear the brunt of the teacher losses as their parent bodies won’t be able to afford the costs to replace them. It is a regressive step that will further skew inequality. 

There are solutions to the province’s engineered funding crisis, which simply involve it making better budgetary choices. The Province has assigned Billions of Rands to non-core functions over the next three years, including to innovation and safety. A relatively small portion of this money would ensure no teachers’ jobs need be lost.

The people of the Western Cape deserve to be informed of the facts, and it is the duty of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament, as a legislature representing the people of the Western Cape, to hold the executive accountable for the decisions they make.

In a letter to the Speaker today, the GOOD Party requested that he invoke the Standing Rules of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament, which authorise him to grant a request for a matter of “urgent public importance” to be discussed in the house – and to allow for the debate to take place at the next sitting, on Thursday 12 September 2024. 

GOOD trusts that the Speaker will agree that this is an appropriate request, and that scheduling the debate will fulfil the obligation of the provincial legislature to perform oversight.

Issued by Brett Herron, GOOD: Secretary General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament, 9 September 2024