POLITICS

Cassel Mathele should be dismissed - COSATU

Federation appalled at failure to deliver textbooks to Limpopo schools, even after court order to do so

Dismiss this Premier! says COSATU

The Congress of South African Trade Unions is appalled at the continued failure of the Limpopo Provincial government to provide textbooks to the Province's schools, even after the North Gauteng High Court on 17 May 2012 ordered them to deliver the books.

COSATU demands the immediate dismissal of the Provincial Premier, the MEC for Education and all the directors implicated in this scandal. If the ANC is serious about organisation renewal, this has to be where it starts, with one of the very worst examples of gross incompetence which is endangering the futures of thousands of children.

It was bad enough that it required a High Court order to compel the Province to do what it should have done in January. It is even more outrageous that a month after the order was issued, it had still not been complied with. Heads must roll!

The Federation congratulates SECTION27 on its stubborn determination to pursue the matter through every means possible. It confirmed after a visit to schools last week that none of the schools visited had received books in terms of the court order, nor had they had any communication from the Limpopo Department of Education or the DBE as to when they would receive books.

This episode illustrates starkly why we still need civil society groups like SECTION27 to monitor state bodies and if necessary take them to court to ensure that South Africans receive the level of service to which they are entitled by the Constitution.

This crisis of institutionalised mediocrity and incompetence is the price that the working class and the poor have to pay for the ongoing divisions and factionalism within the movement. It makes it more urgent than ever to change the whole mindset of our public representatives and officials and insist that service to the people is the top priority above all else.

Statement issued by Patrick Craven, COSATU national spokesperson, June 20 2012

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter