Chairperson, hon Minister, MECs and members, some of the key principles raised in a myriad of documents that promoted the struggle for democracy, were representivity, inclusivity and participatory democracy.
We support the Bill for the effect it gives to these principles by broadening participation in the council to make it representative and regulating the whole profession in and outside public institutions, through registration, professional development and a code of ethical standards.
We appreciate that some stakeholders have raised concerns around the composition and funding, and what they perceive as an attempt to provide for the ministerial control of the council. It is hoped that these concerns will serve as a constant reminder to the department that the ideals of democracy will be maintained. However, it is in the nature of the profession of educators and its functioning to call for participation from other interest groups in the community; hence the need to create space for their involvement, so that the council is not misconstrued as a mere extension of the bargaining council, which operates on the basis of proportional representation, and so that the council is not serving the interest of only one of the stakeholders in the educative processes.
Furthermore, despite the plausible efforts to rescue education from the legacy of crisis and to put it on a pedestal in terms of the expectations of the new millennium, there still remains public perceptions that the standards or the status of the profession has been sacrificed at the altar of political expediency or partisanship and unionisation. There is a need, therefore, to manage these perceptions by providing a balance between the effectiveness of the council and rebuilding the confidence of the public in the profession, and to profile the image of the profession in a renewed fashion and in keeping with the dictates of the ethos of our new democracy.
It is considered, in the interests of the contributors to the funds of the council, to open the funds to public scrutiny, in terms of enabling legislation. UDM sees the provision around this development in the light of its bent on promoting transparency and accountability, as well as fighting fraud and uprooting corruption ferociously. [Applause.]
Mrs E E N KANKOSI-SHANDU (KwaZulu-Natal): Chairperson, I want to say from the beginning that we in KwaZulu-Natal support the Bill.
For the Bill to enjoy the full support of the whole profession, the Sace must been seen as a council for educators. It is imperative that educators, especially those who are in actual service, are able to participate and contribute to the council's work. Otherwise, it will become another structure with very little impact on educators in general. There must be ownership in terms of the role of the Sace. All efforts must be made to ensure that all educators, irrespective of whether they are in private or public schools, and across all bands of the National Qualifications Framework are included.
In order for the Sace to be meaningful in the transformational process, emphasis must be placed equally on its role as a developmental body for educators, a body that keeps an up-to-date register for educators and is a watchdog for the professional ethos of the educators. We also support the separation of the South African Council for Educators Bill from the Employment of Educators Act as the two cannot fall under one Act without restricting the other and eventually destroying both of them. We thus appreciate the efforts of the national Ministry in coming up with this Bill that seeks to separate, officially, the Act that governs the creation and the operation of the South African Council of Educators as an independent Act.
As far as the composition of the Sace is concerned, it is desirable that it must represent the profession, but it may have to be broadened to match the envisaged scope of educators from both public and private domains. It is also desirable that the Sace not be dominated by any one sector of the organised profession. There is a need for an understanding to be arrived at with all stakeholders as to how the 18 educators will be spread out in order to avoid the situation whereby one union will dominate the council.
We also want to say that in terms of the language in which the certificate is issued, we agreed among ourselves in KwaZulu-Natal that the certificate must be issued in the language of the educators' preference, especially if the language is one of the 11 official languages of this country.
We are also of the opinion that the council is best placed to decide, from among its members, who the chairperson ought to be. The chairperson, however, must be answerable to the Minister. We therefore recommend the formation of the technical committee to work out these clauses, as they impinge on the actual functioning of the council.
Finally, we believe that in the interests of education, the Sace needs to commit itself to the establishment and maintenance of a code of professional ethics for educators and also focus on the promotion and development of the teaching profession. [Applause.]