Teachers down chalk over salaries
Members of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) marched from SABC Park to the premier's office and office of the education MEC to hand over a grievance memorandum on Tuesday.
POLOKWANE – The street was a sea of red when a large number of members of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) marched from SABC Park to the premier’s office and office of the education MEC to hand over a grievance memorandum on Tuesday.
At the top of Sadtu’s demands was that the salaries of adult basic education teachers be restored, as these teachers’ salaries were cut from R6 000 to R1 400 per month in September and a further cut is expected at end of this month.
The union also demanded that the department appointed temporary teachers. Late payment of markers was also a pressing issue on the memorandum.
Sadtu provincial secretary, Jacob Raphasha, said premier Stanley Mathabatha and acting education MEC, Jerry Ndou, were given 14 days to respond to the memorandum.
“Both the premier and the MEC responded well to our memorandum and said they were committed to find a resolution to the problems as soon as possible,” Raphasha said.
Mathabatha said at a media breakfast on Wednesday morning that a new MEC for the department of education would be appointed within two weeks.
