SADTU scores yet another victory in education in our country.

The court ruling by the Cape High Court to have the 17 schools that were earmarked for closure by Premier Helen Zille and Education MEC Donald Grant remain open has vindicated SADTU.

Our democratic courts have once again come to the favour of the poor, working class learners and parents in the Western Cape. The court further ordered the Premier and the provincial Department of Education to pay all costs.

When SADTU came to the aid of their members and learners who were victims of the closures, Zille and Grant thought they could walk over the poor by using cheap politics. They thought they could simply dismiss us as the poor servants of the ANC. The Union will not allow the bullies in the provincial education department who use the state's resources to jeopardize the future of the poor and working class children to win. This will not happen under our watch! We call on other teacher unions to apologize to their constituencies for not coming to their defense.

The fact that Minister Motshekga supported Grant and Zille in this horrendous act has caused huge discomfort within SADTU. The Minister must stop emulating Grant and Zille and condemn their attack on poor teachers, communities and learners.

We thank the legal team led by Senior Council Norman Arendse for a splendid job done.

We urge Grant and Zille to respect the courts and not to waste money with an appeal. They should instead, reduce the class sizes.

Statement issued by SADTU Western Cape Secretary, Jonavon Rustin, July 31 2013

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter