Chairperson, hon Minister and hon Deputy Minister, hon members, invited guests and stakeholders, including leaders of teachers' trade unions who are here, Azapo agrees that education is, and should be, a societal issue. South Africans from all walks of life should have an interest in education. It is through quality education that South Africa can address the challenges that we have in our country, such as the skills shortage.
With the limited time that we have, we would like to raise the following points. Regarding the Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign, Azapo supported and continues to support the call that was made when the Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign, QLTC, was launched. We repeat what we said in this House, that the QLTC can be an answer to the many problems that are bedevilling our education.
The campaign identified key stakeholders and the minimum that each had to do to turn things around. Departmental officials committed themselves to supporting schools, ensuring that teaching resources were provided on time and monitoring teacher and learner attendance. Teachers committed themselves to be on time, to be well prepared for all their lessons and to teach for at least seven hours a day. Learners committed themselves to attending school regularly, to working hard and to respecting teachers. Parents committed themselves to supporting and protecting their children's schools and to co-operating with teachers. Communities are committing themselves to protecting schools and to ensuring that they are not vandalised.
This is a winning formula. If all of us were to focus on these bare minimums, South Africa would be a different country and the many negative stories that we read in the media would be something of the past.
The Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign, QLTC, is not in the budget. If it is there, it is subsumed under other programmes. Maybe the Minister should consider appointing a person in her office, or in the office of the director-general, whose only mandate is to drive the QLTC.
Members of this House should disabuse themselves of the notion of the value of talking only about teachers when they address matters related to education in our country. When the Minister talked about the three Ts I heard her referring only to teachers. Teachers can be in class, but that won't help if there are no learners there. Teachers also need the support of the community. So every time we talk about the QLTC, we must address all the stakeholders. [Interjections.] Many teachers in the Limpopo province are in class on time, but they are still waiting for the delivery of textbooks - even as we are conducting this debate!
A clarion call should also be directed to all that departmental officials must be left to do their work without hindrance. [Inaudible.] We are unhappy when we hear that departmental officials have been turned away from schools because "they had not made appointments to visit those schools".
Azapo is concerned about the management, or should we say, the mismanagement of funds, especially in the various provincial departments. According to the report of the Auditor-General, some provinces are persistently recording overexpenditure or unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. In the latest report, only three provinces received unqualified audit reports, with five having qualified reports and one having a disclaimer.
Azapo is also still waiting to hear of an accounting officer being charged with the mismanagement of public funds in terms of the Public Finance Management Act, or to hear of an executive authority being taken to task as a result of an Auditor-General's report. I can also mention provincial departments that underspend, in the midst of poverty. Azapo supports the Budget Vote. [Time expired.]