NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 45
DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 01/03/2013
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 03/2013)
Mr Z Mlenzana (COPE-EC) to ask the Minister of Basic Education:
(1) Whether she has been informed of the financial situation in the
Eastern Cape that is (a) threatening closure of many schools and (b)
keeping thousands of learners at home; if not, what is the position in
this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) whether this financial situation is as a result of the channelling of
funds to teacher salaries; if not, what is the position in this
regard; if so, what are the relevant details;
(3) whether she will make a statement on the matter? CW92E
ANSWER
1) Yes. I am aware of the financial situation in the Eastern Cape
Education Department. The budget for the 2012/13 financial year has
been stabilised and the vote will not be overspent. This is being
achieved through reprioritisation of services and the implementation
of certain curtailment measures. Personnel expenditure, and the cost
of teachers for that matter, are not affected and the declared post
basket is fully funded.
This is also the case for the 2013/14 financial year.
a) The threatening closure of many schools has nothing to do with the
financial situation in the Eastern Cape Education Department. It is
acknowledged that all allocated educator posts in terms of the
declared post provisioning norms are not filled in all schools.
This is very deliberately the case due to the more than 6Â 000
excess educators in many other schools across the Province that
need to be redeployed and placed effectively so that their services
are utilised. This process is well underway, but may still require
a month or two to complete. To alleviate the problem in the
interim, the Eastern Cape Education Department is considering
appointing a limited number of temporary educators for the most
critical subjects for the very short term until the redeployment of
the excess educators has been completed. It must however be
understood that this will be done only insofar as the budget
permits.
However, the schools that are most affected by this situation are
in the rural areas and are not the ones threatening to close. This
is the result of an action from a certain grouping of schools.
Although there are a number of vacancies at these schools, it is
not as if there are no teachers at the schools. There it would
appear that there is a degree of maliciousness on the side of these
schools.
b) The Eastern Cape Education Department is not keeping any learner at
home. These actions were initially instigated by some school
principals. The Department put a very deliberate stop to this
(Interdict against SADTU). However, School Governing Bodies are now
taking the lead and continuing with the action.
It must be stated clearly that this action is not supported by the
Department. In fact, the Department is totally opposed to it.
2) No. As stated under (1) above, the budget for the compensation of
employees for the 2012/13 and 2013/14 financial years is sufficient to
cover the full cost of the declared post provisioning norms.
3) I do not intend to make any further statements on this matter.