DA lays a complaint with the Human Rights Commission against SADTU
23 September 2015
The South African basic education system is failing our children, half of which are not able to read by Grade 3. The constitutional right to basic education, enshrined Section 29, is being undermined by South Africa's largest teacher union, the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (SADTU). SADTU is holding our education system hostage and thwarting the delivery of quality of education, jeopardising the future of our children.
Without quality education, young people are left not only unemployed, but increasing facing the prospect of being unemployable, leaving them without the opportunity to pursue a life they value.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has therefore laid a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) against SADTU.
Given its mandate to support and promote the rights of all South Africans, the SAHRC is best placed to investigate the violations by SADTU of our children’s right to education.
While the list of transgressions by SADTU is long, of most recent concern is the apparent attempted take-over of the Department of Basic Education by SADTU, with the union dictating what the Minister can and cannot do. SADTU's strong-arm tactics succeeded in having the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, postpone the Annual National Assessments (ANAs). The Minister has since reclaimed her leadership prerogative, which we welcome.
The Minister has recently come out against what was termed SADTU’s “inappropriate influence” on the education system. Given the importance of education, more needs to be done to ensure that SADTU’s stranglehold on our education system is pried loose.
Annual testing of literacy and numeracy is critical, especially in light of the desperately low current levels of learner achievement. We need evidence to inform the interventions necessary to ensure that all children will receive the high standard of education they deserve.
The ANAs are currently the only national tool that we have to assess the status of learner literacy and numeracy, and represent one of the most important recent attempts to measure and deal with the real extent of inadequacy in our education system. The DA agrees that the ANAs should be remodelled, but we cannot condone that SADTU's politically-elected leaders can, in any way, claim to be well placed to perform this role together with the Department of Basic Education. This is a job for education experts.
The DA has urged the Minister and Education MECs to follow the DA-run Western Cape’s lead by implementing the model of independent annual systemic testing in place of the ANAs. These systemic tests are independently set, administered and marked. They are also internationally benchmarked to ensure the best possible assessment. The results are comparable year on year and grade on grade and allow truly credible evidence on which to base meaningful literacy and numeracy interventions. Adopting the Western Cape’s model will allow us to continue with and improve upon our vital literacy and numeracy assessments – as the Western Cape continues to do.
ANAs must identify poor teaching and learning, even if this is uncomfortable for the educators involved. Where teaching is failing, it must be corrected. Teachers must be appropriately developed to render them effective in their classrooms. Such interventions cannot occur if the failures are not first identified.
The DA supports responsible trade unionism and we believe in this constitutionally protected right to organise. But the fact is SADTU oversteps the bounds of its lawful rights at the expense of education.
SADTU has further hamstrung the Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) interventions aimed at providing quality education the following ways:
-SADTU has blocked measures to hold teachers accountable for poor performance. They have achieved this by preventing the implementation of teacher performance assessments that are linked directly to learner outcomes. The matter has been before the Education Labour Relations Council for more than four years and all parties except SADTU have signed to indicate their agreement.
-SADTU has opposed competency tests for principals, which were first mooted by Minister Motshekga in 2011. SADTU immediately reacted negatively, denying that any of its principals were underperforming and rejecting the suggestion of competency tests. (These tests are currently in place in the Western Cape and assist in assuring schools have strong leadership.)
-SADTU has stone-walled the implementation of processes and interventions which seek to improve the quality of education our children receive. They have done this, most recently, by boycotting the ANAs. They have also blocked competency tests for matric exam markers (which have been implemented in the Western Cape with success).
-SADTU has reduced effective teaching hours provided to learners through unlawful strike action. Such action violates the constitutional right of learners across the country to a basic education, as well as the constitutional imperative that, in all matters concerning the child, “a child’s best interests are paramount”. By calling on teachers to abandon classes to take part in unlawful strikes, SADTU denies children vital class and learning time with their teachers. South Africa has the highest rate of teacher absenteeism in the SADC region, with our teachers absent for close to 7.5 million days a year. SADTU actions most certainly contribute to this shocking statistic.
-Shamefully, SADTU has used children in its marches. SADTU members marched in central Cape Town in April 2013, wearing red T-shirts bearing the slogan "Every child needs a teacher", accompanied by hundreds of children whom they had apparently instructed to join them. Their demands, then, were for the resignation of the Minister and the Director-General.
-SADTU chooses critical times in the education calendar, such as exam periods, to push for their demands. They know full well that this will increase the pressure on the DBE to accede to their demands. An example of this is the unlawful strikes and incidents of intimidation that took place during the 2014 matric preliminary exams. SADTU members not teaching were then used to campaign for the ANC for the National Election that year.
-SADTU is widely alleged to be interfering in the management of the education system. Nowhere is this clearer than the much-publicised SADTU jobs-for-cash scandal. An investigation instituted by the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, and headed by Professor John Volmink into SADTU’s jobs-for-cash scandal probed allegations that SADTU officials in KwaZulu-Natal had insisted that the Department reduce the educational requirements for the posts of educational specialists from degrees to diplomas and that SADTU essentially runs the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, dictating who gets what jobs. Also at issue are widespread rumours of the exchange of cash for posts - R30 000 appears to be the going rate for a principal's post. The report on the findings of the investigation, yet to be tabled before Parliament, will detail a probe into these shameful allegations, with SADTU apparently having been allowed to exercise disproportionate and undue influence in a corrupt manner and on a massive scale.
-SADTU actively contributes to the massive inequalities within the education system. The union is predominantly active in less affluent schools. It is these less affluent schools that our worst academic performances are recorded. By not allowing schools to test its potential leaders for efficacy before they employ them, by not allowing teachers to be effectively assessed and developed and by influencing appointments such that union and political affiliation trumps merit, SADTU is giving the education of the poor child in South Africa the middle finger. Justice Malala has tweeted to this effect stating that “SADTU is the worst thing to ever happen to a black child”. The children who suffer the SADTU system have little to no fair chance of achieving their potential or being able to assess opportunities.
Given this long list of complaints against SADTU, the DA will request that the SAHRC do the following:
-Produce a full report on the extent to which SADTU is responsible for the violation of learners’ rights;
-Recommend SADTU to desist from any behaviour that violates learners’ rights; and
-Make recommendations to the President and the Minister of Basic Education on mechanisms to effectively prevent SADTU from continuing to violate the rights of our learners.
The DA will request that this report be tabled before Parliament so that it contents and recommendations can be considered by the National Assembly. The DA will also be tabling a motion for debate when Parliament resumes.
SADTU remains an obstacle to the delivery of quality education. South Africans who are share the DA’s belief that education is vital need to stand together and send a clear message to the union. Education is a passport to opportunity for our children. It is the key to our future as a country. SADTU cannot be allowed to compromise that future.
Statement issued by Annette Lovemore, DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education, 23 September 2015
These remarks were made at a press conference in Parliament today by the DA’s Leader, Mmusi Maimane MP, and DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education, Annette Lovemore MP, on why the DA has laid a complaint against SADTU with the South African Human Rights Commission.
