Dismissed Paulpietersburg educators demand answers

Educators from the Paulpietersburg cluster are still fuming after the Department of Education sacked them in February.

These teachers believe that the loss of their jobs can be attributed to the continued scrutiny upon the situation of unqualified/under-qualified teachers in South Africa.

The upset educators spent a good part of Monday awaiting to be addressed by the Vryheid District Manager Mr PD Ndlovu at the local Department of Education offices as to what was to happen to them moving forward.

“We received a letter earlier this year telling us that our employment was set to be terminated by February 28. We were requested to sign these letters agreeing that we understood that we would no longer be Department of Education employees, but most of us did not sign the letters as we felt that this was unfair. We have served for a very long time, some of us have been teachers for well over 10 years, it cannot just end like this,” said one of the educators who requested to not be named for fear of being singled out.

The educators claimed that according to the Labour Relations Act, once a person has worked for you for three months, they should be converted to permanent employees.

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“How can we be considered temporary employees after having worked for the department for more than 10 years? We are very upset by what our employer is doing, as it was a known fact that we did not have degrees or other such qualifications when we were hired. We did not hide this. The agreement had been that we would continue to study on the side while teaching,” explained this educator.

The educators claim that around 2011/2012, the Department of Education advised them to register to complete their studies.

“When we were told to do this, it was to be done at our own expense. We had to obtain EduLoan in order to further our studies. Despite the financial burden, we have been doing what we can to ensure that we obtain the needed qualifications and now we are being told we no longer have jobs. Where do they expect us to go? Who would hire me? I am well over 30 and this body is not fit to pass through the orientation process for becoming a police officer,” said this educator.

The teachers said that they would be taking the matter to court, as they are not happy with the nature in which they have been fired.

The Director of the local Department of Education, Mr PD Ndlovu, said that he was not permitted to speak to the media with regards to the matter and referred the Vryheid Herald to the provincial spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi.

Mr Mahlambi was unavailable but the Vryheid Herald was able to speak to the department’s media liaison Kwazi Mthethwa who was unfortunately in a meeting at the time.

Mr Mthethwa requested to be emailed questions regarding the matter and promised to respond as soon as he could.

The Vryheid Herald is still awaiting his response.

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