Teachers’ union voices displeasure over non-payment

The National Teachers’ Union (Natu) said it is dismayed over the KZN Department of Education’s failure to pay stipends for Grade R practitioners for April.

According to the union’s national secretary, Doctor Ngema, Grade R teachers experienced a painful Workers’ Day this year following the department’s ‘delinquency’.

“As a result, as breadwinners, thousands of Grade R practitioners were unable to support their families, pay for services, and will struggle to pay for transport to report back to schools,” said Ngema.

“Some of them are renting houses near the schools and are thus harassed by landlords for failure to pay their monthly rent.”

He added that Natu was engaged with departmental authorities, urging them to facilitate payment processes.

“Natu received numerous calls from Grade R teachers and branch leaders reporting that no payments were made. Worried about the false statement issued by DoE regarding this critical matter, we reached out to the HoD, who requested time to investigate the matter.

“Natu views the department’s statement as deceptive and spurious. They falsely promised our members that they would be paid. This is despicable by the provincial education department’s chief accounting officer.

“Worryingly, a fortnight ago there were revelations in the media that the department may struggle to pay the salaries of teachers in the future. We are anxious about whether or not this is the start of the inability to pay teacher salaries,” said Ngema.

Ngema added that they further demand an apology from the HoD for misleading the people and the provincial education fraternity, and the Grade R practitioners in particular.

In a mini-statement on the official DoE social media page, the department said it wished to inform unpaid Grade R practitioners that their salaries would be paid on 2 May, however, Eyethu Bay Watch was reliably informed that, as at Monday, 5 May, they had not received their salaries.

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