NEHAWU calls on the Minister of DHET to address the plight of workers in the department

17 September 2024

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] calls on the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane to immediately address issues confronting our members and  workers in the department of higher education and training.

As NEHAWU, we strongly believe that DHET remains an essential instrument to respond to the needs and developmental agenda of our society hence we support its vision of creating an integrated, coordinated and articulated system for improved economic participation and the social development of youth and adults. This vision, however shall not be achieved if the department continues to devalue workers as they are at the point of production and service to ensure that department meet its objectives.

Our members and workers at DHET have for a long time had to endure miseries, pains and suffocation brought about by the treatment from presupposed caring but intransigent management of the department. Overtime now, we have been witnessing poor administration in the department especially at Head Office, which systematically provided poor service and support to the PSET. This has resulted into a complete collapse of Corporate Services Branch which seriously remained with skeleton staff due to non-filling of vacant funded posts especially at the of senior management, using outdated Human Resource Policies and a dysfunctional organisational structure whereby certain individuals within the department are working but not appearing anywhere in the operational organisational structure of the department, leading into non-payment of salaries as some workers are owed at least three months’ salaries by the department with no guarantee to be paid anytime soon.

It is astonishing and appalling that the department would have individuals working but are not in its organisational structure yet there are more than 200 workers on contract of employment for over 10 years with no commitment to absorb them permanently. This behaviour is in contravention with the Labour Relations Act as amended and we call on the department to end exploitation now or face the mighty of our gallant and fighting union. Workers deserve permanent and stable employment — not to be treated as mere disposable pawns in a power game. The casualization of workers is cruel and pure anti-worker posture negates the same efforts of creating permanent, decent and sustainable jobs for our people, particularly for the working class amidst the high cost of living and the high level of poverty faced by South Africans.

Equally, we have also witnessed the vicious and relentless onslaught on collective bargaining as this department goes all-out to reverse the hard-won gains of workers achieved at the departmental bargaining council and the consciously posture to undermine collective bargaining which did not come on a silver platter but through the blood, sweat and toil of workers and members in particular.

Looking at how the management in the department is handling and managing workers, in particular our members and shopstewards, we are convinced that the Director-General, Dr Sishi is at the centre of the problems engulfing the department and a main reason why workers are despondent. Indeed, this confirms our long-held view that the DG does not care about the plight of our members and workers, to demonstrate the point, the DG has been pushing steadfast a nefarious agenda of relocating the DHET Head Office to the CSIR even after workers had objected to the relocation as it would be expensive to them, for example, the travelling costs of the employees, as CSIR is outside town, will subject the taxi users to take two to three taxis just to be at work costly to the current transport arrangements. This is also despite the fact that DHET has been allocated a permanent building by government within the Salvokop precinct which was announced by the State President as part of the Presidential Infrastructure project. The DG has shown the President and government the middle finger with his relocation plans to the CSIR because he thinks that is bigger than the President and the executive yet the DG has not lived-up to the high expectations of being the administrative head and thereby providing a clear direction to the plethora of challenges confronting DHET. 

We are equally concerned by the recent reports of fabricated charges being manufactured to silence and weaken NEHAWU shopstewards who have had the courage to stand up against the unethical conduct of some senior managers in the department. This is nothing short but a direct attack on our union and we shall not tolerate these blatant attempts to intimidate our members for simply doing what is right which is to represent members and workers in the department as dictated to by the South African laws.

The union firmly believes in the vision of the South African society, the people’s education for people’s power and that education is a societal issue not merely a departmental issue hence NEHAWU is calling and mobilising society to take full responsibility for education. Currently, the union is interacting and engaging with all those who seem to be caring for education by resuscitating the organs of people’s power through an Education Front largely drawn from South African people, the working class and the poor in particular in order to coordinate and campaign for the seven features defined for education in late 80’s for the new South Africa and we shall use them as a yard stick to measure progress on the transformation of education in our country. To feed into this vision, we need a department that is proactive and playing its role by creating a conducive working environment for its employees and the people it serves.

In this regard, we call on the new Ministry led by the Minister, Dr Nkabane and her team to be equal to this task of establishing such a department by resolving urgently these issues as they are tabled for her attention by our branch before the meeting the national leadership of our union with her so as to enable an appropriate platform for  discussions on strategic issues of the post schooling system against the neoliberal policy orientation that is persisting in driving to a stagnant allocation of subsidies and student funding amidst the rising student enrolments, student housing demands, infrastructure and fee hikes that undermines the developmental and transformational agenda of our society as well as disregarding the value of those who are at the point of service – workers in the department of higher education and transformation. Any reluctance or delay in resolving matters already tabled by our branch for the attention of the Minister will be regarded or understood as a declaration of war with the union as such we will not be stingy or economical in using our mighty to respond accordingly. 

Issued by NEHAWU Secretariat, 18 September 2024