SADTU SAYS THE DA HAS NO RESPECT FOR THE LAW, HUMAN RIGHTS AND BLACK LEADERS
08 May 2016
The South African Democratic Teachers Union has always avoided engaging in sparring matches with political parties and has therefore always shunned from responding to comments made by political parties against SADTU. However it appears that SADTU’s decision to give respect to all political parties including those it fundamentally disagrees with, is interpreted as a license by the Democratic Alliance to take out its political frustrations on SADTU and its members.
Despite it being clear that the numerous decisions to postpone the release of the report of Ministerial Task Team is that of the Minister, and the Minister alone, the DA has once more singled out SADTU for attack as part of its political campaign against the ANC and seeks to use the Union as an entry point.
The very DA which holds itself out as a party that upholds the constitution of the Republic and Human Rights is today in the forefront of attempts to put pressure on the Minister to violate and undermine the human rights of numerous persons in respect of whom findings were made by the MTT without following the rules of natural justice and complying with the law.
This however comes as no surprise knowing that the majority of members of SADTU are black and the DA has a reputation of having members who often spew racist rants insulting black people. The attack on the Minister suggesting that she is captured by SADTU is nothing more than a racist rant suggesting that the Minister cannot think for herself. The DA has over the years not shed its apartheid mentality and appears to continue to battle to adjust to the ideals of a constitutional state based on freedom and human rights.
It is clear that the DA is in possession of both the interim and final reports of the MTT. We wonder how the DA obtained these reports except through dubious means as these have not been made public. For a party that holds itself as a champion of clean governance, to use unethical methods to access government records as it appears to have happened in the case of these reports exposes the true character of the DA. This amply demonstrates that the old apartheid covert activities remain embedded in the manner of operation of the DA.
The DA has become too desperate to advance its propaganda campaign that logic and common sense has escaped them. The mantra that the DA has now developed about SADTU controlling six of the Provincial Education Departments and now recently the Minister is premised on the fact that all the MEC’s and HoD’s of those departments and the Minister and his Director General are black and therefore capable of such capture.
The South African Democratic Teachers Union and its members have the right to enjoy the full benefit of the rule of law. Our members are entitled to the full protection of the law and to enjoy the human rights protected in the constitution. No amount of racist rants disguised as calls for the release of the report will weaken our resolve for full compliance by the MTT with the rules of natural justice and the law.
We have always viewed with high sceptism the empty and obvious sarcastic praises the DA heaped on the Minister. We always knew and expected that to the extent that the DA benefitted from whatever it believed the Minister was doing right, she will be praised. Now she has been rewarded with the highest insult that she cannot think for herself and is captured by a trade union.
It is regrettable that the Minister has played into the DA’s game plan by making public announcements that SADTU controls six provincial departments based on illogical and unsubstantiated findings of the MTT which today is unable to provide evidence of its allegations. That is the true character of the DA and demonstrates the access the DA seems to have to certain elements within the MTT.
We urge the DA to step down from its high horse and allow for the due processes to take place in order to ensure the smooth release of the report.
Statement issued by the SADTU Secretariat, 8 May 2016
