COSAS RESPONSE TO THE MINISTER'S REQUEST TO THE TREASURY

7 August 2012

As the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) we want to take this opportunity to publicly respond to the request made by the Honourable Minister of Basic Education Mama Angie Motshekga to the national treasury to give her department more money for the catch up program that is apparently aimed at remedying the current unfortunate and disappointing state of education in the Limpopo province.

We are of the view that National Treasury must reject the request by the minister based on the fact that it is useless to pump money into a department that has a lazy and careless political head. Even the African National Congress (ANC) has said it is useless to pump money into departments that are not working properly or working at all. We are surprised about where she gets the mandate from.

We wish to thank the Minister for actually proving that she is incompetent of running the Department of Basic Education by requesting help from everybody as if the department is under-staffed. We have always said that there is a need to have a decisive political head that will take the interest of an African child forward and inspire confidence.

We are shocked that on top of the National Departments team that is 'Dealing' with the crisis in Limpopo and the task team that President Jacob Zuma has appointed, the minister still feels the need for the National Treasury's intervention. The request is actually a clear indication of the confidence the Minister has on the department and the team that the president has set up to help the poor students of Limpopo.

It is annoying to find that the minister fails to do simple things such as spearheading and actively participating in the work of the Quality Learning and Teaching committee that she is suppose to be leading. COSAS cannot help but feel angry at the fact the Minister does not care about people who have lost their loved ones because of the publication of matric results which she clearly does not want to outlaw but is quick to request the National Treasury for more money as if she knows how to use it.

Minister Angie must not force the national treasury to waste tax payers money, rather she must take from her salary and all those found responsible to pay for all what needs to be paid for to remedy the crisis that has emerged under her watch as a Minister responsible for basic education which includes the delivery of textbooks in every school in South Africa.

We reiterate our call to Mama Angie to stop playing the blame game and embarrassing the ANC led government any further and resign immediately as an attempt spare President Jacob Zuma the pain of having to fire her.

Statement issued by Bongani Mani, COSAS President, August 3 2012

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