DA calls for action on Sadtu’s jobs-for-cash scheme

18 May 2015

An investigation into Sadtu’s jobs-for-cash scandal has revealed the extent to which the Union puts the interest of its members above the needs of our children (see City Press report). 

The investigation, instituted by the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, and headed by Professor John Volmink, has reportedly uncovered that: 

Union officials in KwaZulu-Natal insisted that the Department reduce the educational requirements for the posts of educational specialists from degrees to diplomas; 

A candidate for a principal post in Gauteng was contacted by Sadtu officials who tried to extort R25 000 in return for the post; and

Sadtu essentially runs the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, dictating who gets what jobs.

The findings are extremely serious. SADTU has been allowed to exercise undue influence in a corrupt manner and on a massive scale. One Director is quoted as saying that Sadtu does not care about our children’s education and that “education is under siege” by the union.

SADTU's jobs-for-cash scheme has prevailed predominantly in KZN. It is important to realise that one quarter of all of South African learners are at schools in KwaZulu Natal. The future of 3 million learners is at stake.

The Minister has the power to table the report on the investigations and expose the extent to which Sadtu is damaging the educational opportunities and futures of our children. She also has the power to break their death grip on public education.

The DA calls on the Minister to:

1. Initiate disciplinary proceedings against every one of the alleged perpetrators of corrupt activities;

2. Lay criminal charges against every implicated Sadtu member, in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act;

3. Make her report public; and

4. Table her report urgently before Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, together with her plan of action to deal decisively with what her investigation has uncovered.

The DA has long held that Sadtu must be reined in. It must not be able to hold learners in our public education system hostage. Sadtu's death grip on the system robs our children of the opportunity to reach their full potential in life through access to quality education. 

Statement issued by Annette Lovemore MP, DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education, May 18 2015