Eastern Cape Teachers have gone unpaid for months

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has been reliably informed by Eastern Cape educators that many Grade R teachers in the Port Elizabeth district of the Eastern Cape have not been paid since August last year. Other Grade R teachers have received no payments in 2012.

DA representatives in Parliament and in the Eastern Cape legislature will be putting pressure on the Eastern Cape Department of Education to release the exact numbers as soon as possible.

The payment failures appears to be the result of administrative bungles following an investigation into "ghost" Grade R teachers that Early Childhood Development practitioners concluded last year. In that process, educators who were found to be legitimate had their contracts affirmed. However, the Eastern Cape Education Department failed to take the necessary steps to ensure that these teachers were put back on the payroll.

The District Director was suspended as a result of the "ghost teacher" debacle, but has apparently been reinstated subsequent to the agreements made to end the recent SADTU go-slow in the province in January this year.

The responsibility for payment has now been transferred to the Provincial Treasury. But the required documents have not reached the Treasury and funding has not been transferred. The teachers therefore remain unpaid.

The DA has been informed that funds have been identified, and that Treasury is planning a "payroll run" "this week or next week".  It is, however, not acceptable that dedicated teachers taking responsibility for this important phase in the development of learners has gone without payment for up to seven months.

This is also not the first time that the Eastern Cape Department of Education has failed teachers in this manner. In June last year, a frustrated Grade R teacher from Grahamstown, Thembisa Marawu, approached the media after she and her peers had not been paid for two months. They received contracts from the provincial Department of Education, but were told that the School Governing Bodies should pay their salaries, since "they were not employees of the Department".  Just how many School Governing Bodies in the Eastern Cape have funding to cover the costs of such salaries?

In February this year, the President proudly announced that the government is "poised to meet our target of 100 percent coverage for Grade R by 2014". Yet, the situation in the Eastern Cape suggests that Grade R teachers are not being valued as they should be. Even where teachers do get paid, they earn a stipend of R5000 without any benefits, and do not get permanent appointments.

We entrust the critical development of young minds to these dedicated practitioners. Steps must be taken to ensure that Grade R teachers are recognised as professionals, are fully incorporated into the provincial Departments of Education, are made permanent employees and have the security of a salary rather than a stipend.

The DA will pose questions to the Minister of Basic Education in this regard. In addition, we will be in daily contact with the Eastern Cape officials responsible for paying the Port Elizabeth practitioners to ensure that the payment is processed without further delay.

Statement issued by Annette Lovemore MP, DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education, April 17 2012

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