Sadtu’s declaration of war is violation of constitution 

21 September 2015

The announcement this weekend by Sadtu that they will continue to fight the Annual National Assessments (ANAs) is nothing less than a declaration of war on South Africa’s education system, and the constitutionally enshrined right to receive a basic education. 

Sadtu’s General Secretary Mugwena Maluleke, in an SMS to members, yesterday morning said: “We defeated apartheid and we shall defeat this monstrosity [ANAs]”.

The DA urges Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and her officials to continue to stand their ground against the irresponsible union when the department meets with Sadtu and the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA (Naptosa) today. 

The DA applauds the minister’s sentiment, expressed in weekend newspaper reports, that Sadtu should not be allowed to continue to disrupt the education system after not getting their way on having the ANAs scrapped. We welcomed the Minister’s announcement last week that the ANAs will go ahead, between 1 and 4 December this year, and will support Minister Motshekga in her efforts to pry open Sadtu’s stranglehold on education in South Africa.

Sadtu has labelled the Minister's decision "disrespectful" towards them. It is not. It is, instead, respectful towards every child in our schooling system. We stand with most South Africans who truly care about education in welcoming the Minister's decision.

It is abundantly clear that Sadtu does not have the best interests of learners at heart. They consistently block measures to improve education such as performance contracts for principles and, now, the ANAs, which, while flawed, are nevertheless an important tool to assess literacy and numeracy levels of learners.

That the Minister is coming out against Sadtu is promising and she must not waver in her commitment to take back the running of education in South Africa and to block the union’s campaign to sabotage the delivery of quality education to our children. 

The ANAs are one of the only tools we have to assess the status of learner literacy and numeracy and then implement targeted interventions aimed at improving the quality of education for our children. 

Statement issued by Annette Lovemore, DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education, September 21 2015