Hon Minister, it is a truism that teacher performance assessment has been held to ransom by teacher unions. For instance for over four years now, performance agreements for principals and deputy principals have not been signed. They are lying somewhere in the council offices. The National Development Plan proposes that a teacher paid a salary should be linked to learner performance improvements. I know that this has been a contentious issue, but my question is: When do we envisage the department implementing the proposals as contained in the National Development Plan when it comes to linking teachers' salaries to their performance?
UNGQONGQOSHE WEMFUNDO EYISISEKELO: Somlomo, angibonge Bab'uMpontshane, njengoba ngisho nje omunye umsebenzi wale khomishana yaMongameli ukuhlanganisa noma ukuxhumanisa imiholo yothisha kanye nomsebenzi wabo - yiwona umsebenzi ozobe wenziwa yile khomishana. Njengoba usho nje izinkulumo zikhona emkhandlwini wezingxoxo ezizohamba ngenqubo yakhona zize ziphothulwe.
Thina singuhulumeni sesiwuvezile umbono wethu wokuthi sifuna uhambe kanjani. Njengoba usho ukuthi izindaba zisemkhandlwini wezingxoxo ngakho-ke ngokomthetho kufanele ngilindele leyo nqubo iphele ngaphambi kokuba kuqalwe. Sesizibekile iziphakamiso ezichazayo ukuthi sifuna le nto yethu ihambe kanjani. Uma seyiphothuliwe emkhandlwini wezingxoxo sizoza sizonicacisela ukuthi seyiphumelele nokuthi kuhambe kanjani. Imibono yethu sesiyibekile njengoba usushilo ukuthi kuyadingeka ukuba sikwazi ukuthuthukisa lolu hlelo olukhona lwe-IQMS. Akusho ukuthi alukho uhlelo kuhulumeni lokuhlola othisha. Into engekho ukuhlanganiswa kwemiholo yothisha nokusebenza kwabo. Ngithemba ukuthi uma le khomishana yaMongameli isiphuma nesisombululo lokho kungokunye okusemqoka okuzocaca. Uma sikhumbula ngenkathi kukhulunywa ngezimali uNgqongqoshe wemiSebenzi yoMphakathi ushilo ukuthi njengoba sinesivumelwano seminyaka emithathu kuzofuneka kusetshenziswe lona uhlelo lokuxhumanisa ukusebenza kothisha nemiholo yabo. Sisaqhubeka nomsebenzi kuzothi ungaphela ngibuye ngizonicacisela ukuthi siphothule sathini. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[The MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION: Speaker, I wish to thank Mr Mpontshane. As I have already said, one of the tasks of the president's commission is to link the salaries of teachers to their performance - that is what the commission has been tasked with. You said yourself that discussions are being held in the proper forum and they will continue according to the normal procedure until decisions are arrived at.
As the government, we have already made our proposals on what should be done. You said yourself that the issues mentioned are under discussion and it is only proper that I wait for the outcome before taking any action. We have made our proposals regarding the procedure we envisage. We will inform you of the outcome after the discussions are completed.
We have made our proposals on how the IQMS could be improved. We have an assessment system for teachers in place, as we all know. What we still do not have is a system that links the performance of teachers to their salaries. I hope that the president's commission will devise some means to achieve this since it is also an important issue. The Minister of Public Service and Administration said that we should use the three-year salary agreement we have in place as the basis to link teachers' salaries to their performance. We are busy developing ways and means to address the issues concerned and we will inform you of the outcome in due course.]