The question is asked with regard to intervention in the Eastern Cape. The first one is about the vacuum in leadership and the answer is that in terms of section 100(1)(b) an intervention unit has been established and is based in the Eastern Cape to co-ordinate the activities of the intervention. Teams have been put together by Basic Education, National Treasury and the Department of Public Services and Administration to lead the various streams of the intervention, working with the provincial officials in the areas of planning, infrastructure, quality teaching and learning, financial management, services and human resource management and development.
In terms of the cumbersome culture of a poor work ethic in the province, these matters are part of a scoping exercise intended to uncover the underlying causes of the challenges facing the Eastern Cape Department of Education and to develop an intervention plan to review the organisational structure and to tackle the work ethic, which is indeed a problem in the province.
On poor financial management systems, again, the National Treasury team, led by Julinda Gantana, has taken charge of the financial management component and related functions in the Eastern Cape Department of Education. While dealing with the underlying problems, the team has also started to address systems, processes and procedures in this regard, and a report on the scoping of underlying problems will be finalised and submitted to me at the end of this month.
In terms of the lack of monitoring and evaluation, officials of the Department of Basic Education and the Eastern Cape Department of Education held engagements on 24 March 2011 to address issues related to monitoring and evaluation, with specific reference to improving learner outcomes, enhancing data credibility and image and the monitoring of the system as a whole. The Minister and the Deputy Minister addressed senior management and focus sessions for district directors on 6 June to deal with monitoring and evaluation with a view to improving the quality of teaching and learning in Eastern Cape schools. Plans for short-term intervention are implemented, while medium- to long-term plans will emerge from the scoping exercise under way.