The DA will never care about the poor and the working class children, the publicity stunt is for electioneering

3 July 2018

SADTU has noted the statement issued by the DA following its attention seeking march to our offices. We have no doubt that the DA remain extremely desperate following its bruising internal battles involving its leaders to find relevance and deflect attention from the fact that its internal battles have exposed the true nature and character of the DA. Three Black female leaders of the DA, Mbali Ntuli, Lindiwe Mazibuko and now Patricia De Lille have been on the receiving end of the patriarchy and obvious racist bigotry of the DA. It has now taken a court process to expose their true character.

It is the same DA, who are apologists and praise singers of the bigoted system of colonialism and apartheid who today pretend to care about the impact of these systems particularly on the black child. The current state of education mirrors the true agenda and objectives of both colonialism and apartheid which in the words of former DA Leader Helen Zille was after all not that bad. The DA has steadfastly supported Zille on this for very obvious reasons.

The DA has lately resorted to what it condemns all the time, which is the invasion of the privacy of others. The DA within its rights has approached the Essential Services Committee regarding making education or part thereof an essential service. They have also written to us asking us to support their proposal. We have hardly finalised considering their proposal and make up our minds on our approach to this matter and already in publicity seeking style they march to our offices.

The party has hijacked the process set in motion by the Department of Labour through the Essential Service Commission (ESC). We clearly indicated that we will be participating in the process as initiated by the Department of Labour. The DA in its statement acknowledged that the security personnel has received their letter on behalf of the Union. The DA feels bitter because their expedition didn’t trend in social media as they had intended.

The law prescribes a process to be followed for the determination and declaration of an essential service. It is not whether SADTU agrees or not but it is the product of a process involving all interested parties. Marching to our offices is not part of that process.

It is a political party represented in Parliament but has elected to use extra parliamentary actions to raise an issue they can raise in parliament. They also seek to put pressure on the Essential Services Committee to accede to their demands and render the process of the Essential Services Committee tainted by politics and vulnerable to be challenged. This is because the party does not have the interest of Black children in particular at heart but seeks to use their plight for narrow political interest.

The High Court judgement in the Patricia de Lille matter has now proved that contrary to its stated pronouncements, the DA has no respect for human rights and the rule of law. It has taken decisions violating the rights of its own members using the process of a flawed Federal Legal Commission. This is how dangerous it is to listen.

It took court action in the Western Cape to stop the DA from closing schools and depriving African children of the right to education. The very children who the DA says it seeks to protect are the very ones who have no access to basic services in the Western Cape where it governs.

They previously made wild unsubstantiated allegations that SADTU was involved in corruption regarding appointments. An investigation was commissioned and they (DA) failed to provide any evidence to support its allegations. The party has now manufactured a new set of propaganda suggesting that SADTU does not care about the children. Our members who serve the poorest of the poor work in the most horrific circumstances, but for the love of children continue to soldier on.

The hard earned rights of workers are being attacked on a daily basis by the DA while it remains mum on the poor working conditions of the workers. We have never heard them speak when African children are excluded by schools on the basis of Afrikaans, nor have we heard them comment when the working class children in particular the Africans are being taught in dilapidated and overcrowded classrooms. The DA government in the Western Cape always opposes salary increases of teachers hence the delay in negotiations.

If they truly care about the children, let them first demonstrate that by forcing their own members on farms to care for the children of their farm workers.

SADTU is in the process of considering its position on the issue of essential services. A decision will only be taken once all internal democratic process have been followed and subject to the decision of the Essential Services Committee. If the Essential Services Committee decides to consider this matter SADTU as an interested party will participate in that process as prescribed by law and not through publicity seeking marches.

We have never marched to the DA offices despite our strong resentment of the DA and its policies because we respect their right to exist and hold their views. We do not intend to march to their offices in the near future. We encourage them to stay away from our offices and follow the processes prescribed in law to raise any issues they wish to.

Issued by Nomusa Cembi, Media Officer, SADTU, 3 Juy 2018