Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga is a poor choice for this role and one that will see children continuing to suffer from sub-standard education for years to come. South Africa still has in place an education system based on discrimination, with good schools available only to those who can pay and desperately bad education for most. We need a strong, principled leader with the courage to take on these problems, and Motshekga does not seem to be this person.
Aside from impropriety issues still hanging over her head and her mediocre record as MEC for Education in Gauteng , the DA is particularly concerned about her tolerance for the disruption of education by teacher unions, and her dismissive attitude to democracy.
The biggest problem that must be solved in education is convincing the unions of the need to put the interests of children and of the education system first. In recent times Motshekga has shown that she will not do this.
When Nehawu in Gauteng engaged in an explicit political campaign, taking teachers out of the classroom, she did nothing to stop them. Her department has still taken no action against a union member who beat up a teacher in Eldorado Park for refusing to participate in Nehawu's political campaign, and she herself attended Jacob Zuma's court trial when she should have been in an education meeting.
If she wants to make a success of her job, she will have to show very quickly that she is able to take on issues such as performance appraisal, discipline, and other issues that teachers' unions have resisted. However, she has on several occasions stated that she does not think education is that important, so we have our doubts that this will happen.
Motshekga did nothing during her tenure in Gauteng to show that she has got to grips with the many problems in education. At the same time she has also shown in her role as President of the ANC Women's League, to be grossly intolerant and a zealous party hack - her comment that ANC members leaving to join Cope were "dogs" stands out.
In interviews with the press, she has expressed opinions about democracy that can only be described as Marxist. She has argued that opposition parties are not necessary, that people should just accept what the party does for them, and that South Africa does not have the "luxury" of allowing the ANC to lose an election.
These ideas are dangerous and, particularly with regard to education, do not suggest that there will be much room for discussion and debate.
Finally, question marks still hang over her head about her involvement in 2004 as the beneficiary of a trust she helped to land a stake in a lucrative provincial pension payout contract.
Statement issued by George Boinamo MP, Democratic Alliance spokesperson on education, May 11 2009
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