The Democratic Alliance will table a motion with notice this afternoon for the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature to instruct Education MEC Mandla Makupula to enter into immediate negotiations for a financial bailout. The motion also calls for the MEC to table a plan in the Portfolio Committee of Education of how the financial shortfall in the education budget will be dealt with as well as how all substantive vacant posts will be filled. MEC Makupula viciously attacked me in a sitting of the … [Read more...] about ANC called on to support motion for bailout to save 11 000 EC teacher jobs
edmund van vuuren
Fight to keep 11 000 teaching jobs headed to EC legislature
The Democratic Alliance will make an eleventh hour appeal today to Education MEC Mandla Makupula to negotiate a bailout package that would save 11 000 teaching jobs. The Eastern Cape legislature is due to debate education committee reports in the Eastern Cape legislature this afternoon. The DA wants the Education Department to make an urgent appeal to National Treasury for a bailout to cover the R3.4bn shortfall to pay teachers. The Department only has until Friday to save these jobs … [Read more...] about Fight to keep 11 000 teaching jobs headed to EC legislature
11 287 Eastern Cape teaching posts could be cut in 2013
The Eastern Cape Education Department could potentially cut 11 287 teaching posts from the system for the 2013 school year. This is due to a shortfall of R3.42 billion to fund the 64 752 teaching posts currently budgeted for in 2012. This information was presented to the legislature's Education Committee by Superintendent General Mthunywa Ngonzo this week. Besides Provincial Treasury's planned 1% cut in budgets for all Departments in 2013/14, the Education Department also faces a R1.6 … [Read more...] about 11 287 Eastern Cape teaching posts could be cut in 2013
40 000 workbook shortage the fault of EC Education Department
The DA has written to Education MEC Mandla Makupula demanding an urgent response to serious claims by Minister Angie Motshekga that the Eastern Cape is responsible for chronic problems in workbook deliveries to schools. According to the Minister's figures, 24 862 workbooks were sent to schools in the wrong language and a further shortage of 14 711 workbooks was reported for the first half of the year, as of 5 June 2012. The Minister blames these problems on incorrect school and learner … [Read more...] about 40 000 workbook shortage the fault of EC Education Department
Public Protector confirms investigation into EC workbook shortages
Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has confirmed that she will investigate the chronic shortages of workbooks at schools in the Eastern Cape. The DA laid a complaint last week due to workbook shortages identified by school visits and monitoring in the Port Elizabeth and Queenstown districts. We trust that the Public Protector's investigation will get to the bottom of why children in the Eastern Cape still do not have workbooks one month into the third term of the year. The majority of … [Read more...] about Public Protector confirms investigation into EC workbook shortages
EC workbook shortages reported to Public Protector
The DA has asked the Public Protector to investigate the Education Department's failure to solve chronic workbook shortages in Eastern Cape schools. To date we have not received a satisfactory response from either the Minister or the MEC to letters of demand dated 22 and 23 July and 2 August. The DA has identified chronic workbook shortages in the Port Elizabeth and Queenstown districts. Late last week, on a visit to the Louis Rex Primary School in Queenstown we were informed of a shortage … [Read more...] about EC workbook shortages reported to Public Protector
Education Department misleading public on burnt textbooks
The Eastern Cape Education Department has embarked on a campaign to mislead the public rather than coming out with the truth about the destruction of textbooks at the Fort Beaufort warehouse. Yesterday the DA identified thousands of textbooks lying burnt in and around an Education Department district warehouse. The Department's spokesperson Loyiso Pulumani claimed that the books belonged to an old teacher's college that was closed in 1998 and that the books were more than a decade … [Read more...] about Education Department misleading public on burnt textbooks
Thousands of Textbooks Destroyed in EC
A DA inspection of an Education Department district warehouse in Fort Beaufort, Eastern Cape, has discovered thousands of textbooks lying burnt in and around the premises. (See image below) Most of the books are mathematics texbooks. We have written to MEC Mandla Makupula demanding an explanation as to how valuable public resources for Eastern Cape children were allowed to be destroyed in this irresponsible way. In other parts of the warehouse, boxes of books still in their packaging were … [Read more...] about Thousands of Textbooks Destroyed in EC
MEC must account for severe PE District workbook shortages
Eastern Cape Education MEC Mandla Makupula has been summoned to the Legislature to account for severe workbooks shortages identified by the DA in the Port Elizabeth district. He will appear before the Portfolio Committee on Education on Friday. It is clear that a situation similar to Limpopo is now developing in the Eastern Cape. The vast majority of schools contacted by the DA are experiencing massive shortages. Our monitoring of the PE district warehouse confirms that no additional books … [Read more...] about MEC must account for severe PE District workbook shortages
Five days before school, books still being returned to PE warehouse
Schools continue to return incorrect orders of workbooks for learners to the Education Department warehouse in the Port Elizabeth district. A Democratic Alliance (DA) inspection of the warehouse today discovered hundreds of boxes returning to the premises due to the Education Department's ordering of books in the wrong languages for learner's in the district. We also witnessed workbooks meant for the 1st and 2nd quarter being returned by schools, meaning many children have gone the entire … [Read more...] about Five days before school, books still being returned to PE warehouse
East Cape Education Department – Thus Far and NO Further
The Department of Education in the Eastern Cape must stop shifting the goal posts. I have today approached the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee of Education, Mzoleli Mrara, to convene an urgent, special meeting to demand concrete answers from the department for once and for all on the fate of thousands of teachers in the province. MPLs and the public at large are tired of the department’s confusing and dissimilar responses. It is time that the MEC, Mandla Makupula, and the … [Read more...] about East Cape Education Department – Thus Far and NO Further
Temporary Teachers now Six Months Without Pay
Three categories of temporary teachers have been waiting almost six months to be paid. While the Democratic Alliance welcomes the rehiring of some 4 000 temporary teachers as reported in the media (The Herald and Daily Dispatch, 22 May 2012), the ability of the Eastern Cape Department of Education to pay its teachers must be questioned. Red-tape and bureaucratic bungling resulting in the non-payment of teachers illustrates an administration totally out of touch with its core function. The DA … [Read more...] about Temporary Teachers now Six Months Without Pay
Payment of EC Temporary Teachers now Guaranteed
The DA is delighted to announce that some 600 teachers appointed on a temporary basis in the province and who have not been paid since the beginning of this year, will receive their money on 15 May 2012. This follows DA interaction between the DA and the acting Superintendent -General of the Department of Education, Mthunywa Ngonzo, on 3 May 2012 during a legislature portfolio committee meeting. During a follow-up conversation between myself and Mr. Ngonzo this morning, he informed me that … [Read more...] about Payment of EC Temporary Teachers now Guaranteed
Temporary Appointment of Mthunywa Ngonzo as Education Superintendent General Supported
The Democratic Alliance supports the temporary appointment of Mr. Mthunywa Ngonzo as the superintendent-general of the Eastern Cape Department of Education in the place of Adv. Modidima Mannya. He has a long record of serving in a senior position in the department, which includes deputy director-general in 2007 and acting superintendent-general in 2009. I believe that Mr. Ngonzo is the best person currently available among the senior management in the department.He has the necessary … [Read more...] about Temporary Appointment of Mthunywa Ngonzo as Education Superintendent General Supported
Sadtu Drives EC Head of Education out
Sadtu has finally succeeded in driving out the head of education in the Eastern Cape. The DA has learned with regret that Adv. Modidima Mannya, Superintendent-General of the Department of Education has succumbed to the undue pressure exerted onto him by Sadtu and has stepped down with immediate effect. This is not in the interest of education in the Eastern Cape, in view of some of the successes achieved and implementation of programmes which would have taken the department forward. Sadtu … [Read more...] about Sadtu Drives EC Head of Education out
