The MEC for the KZN Department of Education Mbali Frazer and head of department Nkosinathi Ngcobo met with teacher unions on Thursday November 9, at Dokkies, in Durban. The meeting was a success and Sadtu called off their picketing and examinations for Grade eight to 11 pupils will now continue.
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) have called off their picketing, after the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education (DoE) agreed to meet their demands.
Sadtu embarked on a province-wide picket on Monday November 6 and parents were notified via a letter that internal examinations for Grade eight to 11 pupils would be suspended until further notice. However, on Thursday November 9, the teacher unions met with the MEC for education, Mbali Frazer, and the matter was resolved, with the DoE agreeing to meet the demands of the unions.
Ms Frazer and head of department Nkosinathi Ngcobo met with Sadtu, National Teachers’Union (Natu), National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) and the Suid-Afrikaanse Onderwysers Unie (Saou) to engage teacher unions about the challenges education sector is facing and to collaborate in crafting a way forward.
Ms Frazer tabled plans for the department and further welcomed contributions from the teacher unions so that their input could be incorporated in the plans for the way forward. Naptosa and Saou expressed satisfaction on the reported progress on the transfers of funds to schools as well as the payment of the 1.5% pay progression, which will be released on November 15 and December 15, respectively.
“The KZN DoE acknowledges the challenges affecting some of the schools resulting from financial constraints faced by the government in the country,” said Ms Frazer.
“Emanating from the budget adjustment speech by the Minister of Finance, Mr Enoch Godongwana delivered on November 1, a provision allocation letter has been received from National Treasury confirming that the KZN DoE will be among those that will soon get an adjusted budget allocation.”
Based on the confirmation by National Treasury, Ms Frazer said, the KZN Provincial Executive Council met on Wednesday (November 8) to finalise the process for the distribution of funds to the affected departments. The department is now processing the payment of the 1.5% pay progress for employees. This payment will be backdated to July 1, 2023. All eligible employees will receive their payment by December 15. Ms Frazer added that the department is also processing transfers to schools and these payments will be released by November 15.
“With the additional funding allocated to KZN by the Minister of Finance, the education department can now implement stipend adjustments for all grade R practitioners. These adjustments for the Grade R practitioners will be backdated to April 1, 2023, in line with the general salary increase of public servants. They will get their increment from November 30,” she said.
Ms Frazer expressed her gratitude to school principals and teachers for ensuring that teaching and learning, including providing support for pupils during the current examinations continued regardless of financial challenges.
“It is indeed evident that this province is blessed with educators who have the best interests of our learners at heart. They understand that the future of these learners is in the hands of teachers,” said Ms Frazer.
Sadtu provincial secretary, Nomarashiya Caluza, said the union had met with the department on Monday and that the heads of department had reported on the progress regarding their responses to the memorandum of demands which was delivered during the October 13 march.
“The department has secured a guarantee to receive 78% from the National Treasury in respect of compensation of employees as a result of salary adjustments impacted by Resolution 1 of 2023 of PSCBC.
“The Department had already started capturing and releasing payments for school allocations. It is expected that some schools will start receiving payments early next week. Cash blocking, which is a control mechanism, will delay the payment of everything that is owed to schools. Therefore, schools will be paid in tranches. The union is comfortable with the agreed time frames,” said Ms Caluza.
Meetings will be held to assess the department’s progress in implementing what was agreed upon, said Ms Caluza. She said all members were expected to administer internal examinations. Sadtu expressed their thanks to members who ensured that the matric examination was not disrupted in any way.
“This programme was meant to ensure that the department focused on supporting schools, ensuring that school allocations are paid. This was not a selfish programme and it must be understood that it was decided only after numerous engagements with the department which had failed to honour its obligations to schools,” said Ms Caluza.