KZN Education MEC must explain non-filling of vital vacant teacher posts

17 April 2018

The Democratic Alliance in KwaZulu-Natal today calls on provincial Education MEC, Mthandeni Dlungwane, to urgently deliver an executive statement outlining how his Department plans to turn its finances around and fill teacher vacancies. This as learners in the province suffer as a result of severe budget cuts.

The call comes following numerous reports, from both parents and School Governing Bodies, during oversight inspections by the DA, that the Department has stopped filling vital teacher posts once they become vacant. This has taken place at both primary and high schools in the province and is having a major impact, particularly on matrics.

The situation has potentially affected hundreds of schools across the province and the DA is aware of the following:

- Mariannridge Secondary School has two teacher vacancies including a Grade 10 and 12 English teacher post, which has been vacant for two years;

- Quarry Heights Primary School in Newlands East has teacher vacancies in Grades 1, 5 and 6. This has resulted in an entire grade failing their first term assessments;

- Sinanhlanhla Secondary School in Glendale outside KwaDukuza has four teacher vacancies including teachers for matric History, Georgaphy and Mathematics;

- Muntunokudla High School in Msasandla outside Empangeni has two teacher vacancies; and

- Brailsford Primary School in Phoenix has two teacher vacancies.

The DA condemns the fact that ordinary learners are now suffering as a result of poor financial management by the MEC and his Department. The decision to stop filling vital teacher posts can only be described as shameful.

The Department is currently facing a R387 million overspend, with Provincial Treasury demanding that this be reduced. With an initial overspend of almost R900 million, the Department has already been forced to consolidate to the amount of R400 million and accept a bail out of some R200 million from the Provincial Contingency Reserve. The initial budget cuts have already had an extremely negative impact on both learners and teachers across the province with teacher training and school maintenance both badly affected. This has led to long delays in schools receiving textbooks and a reduction in the building of new school toilets.

The Department's financial crisis is worsened by the critical vacancies at senior management level including that of Chief Financial Officer, Head of Supply Chain Management and Head of Legal Services. These posts are vacant due to an alleged purge by MEC Dlungwana when he took over the Department and are all critical for proper budget management.

Perhaps worst of all is that the MEC has been mostly silent during this entire financial crisis. Clearly he is too busy fighting internal ANC battles in his Harry Gwala Region to run the Department of Education. Instead it has been KZN Premier Willies Mchunu who has called meetings with parent bodies and trade unions to put out fires.

A DA government would immediately fill these internal critical posts with capable people – individuals who can pull this Department out of its financial crisis.

We expect answers from MEC Dlungwane who must show leadership and run his Department properly, or else be replaced. The future of KZN’s learners must come first.

Issued by Rishigen Viranna, DA KZN Spokesperson on Education, 17 April 2018