POLOKWANE – Teachers affiliated to the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) have threatened to embark on a protest march against the provincial education department on 26 January, for the late delivery of stationery and better working conditions.

This comes as hundreds of schools in the province have not received stationery despite promises to supply all schools before the start of the first term as well as an ongoing issue of teachers not being paid.

Review spoke to Deputy Secretary of Sadtu in Limpopo, Sowell Tjebane who said the march will occur provided all applications are approved. “It is a whole culmination of things leading up to this march. Some teachers haven’t been paid since April last year and there has been no stationery delivered as promised,” he explains.

Tjebane says they will be marching to the Premier’s Office as well as the Department of Treasury, hoping to reach some sort of agreement. “The issue here is consequence management, we want to know what is going to happen to people who don’t do their jobs,” says Tjebane.

Tjebane went on to say that they are expecting support from their members. “We want a total shutdown and we expect all of our members to march with us and not report to school. If we’re not satisfied then we will call for a provincial shutdown,” he concluded.

raeesak@nmgroup.co.za