Author and teacher Violet Joshua, reads from her book, Heartbeats of Change, at Charles Hugo Primary School in Mayville. A teachers’ recruitment pledge has been widely welcomed.
Durban — Teacher unions in KwaZulu-Natal have welcomed new Education MEC Sipho Hlomuka’s proposed recruitment process for teachers.
Hlomuka recently announced that the department was actively identifying all vacancies for educator posts (post level 1) with the intention of advertising them publicly soon. He also promised to ensure transparency in the employment process and dispel the ongoing allegations of corruption in the department.
“By advertising these vacancies openly, we hope to demonstrate our dedication to fair and equitable employment practices,” said the MEC.
He said that the department remained resolute in its pursuit of excellence in education, and this initiative was a significant step towards achieving this goal.
The National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA (Naptosa) said it welcomed the announcement to advertise all post level 1 teacher posts. Naptosa leader in KZN Therona Moodley said the province has experienced challenges filling these posts.
She also said that the “educator database” has not been functional and is the source of frustration. Teachers who have been registered on this database for years have been overlooked for permanent employment. There has been no transparent process in the filling of level 1 vacancies.
Moodley also said that the filling of these posts has been open to corruption and nepotism. These allegations have never been addressed by the department. Young, qualified teachers have been filling SGB posts that pay very little, and they have no benefits like their state-employed counterparts.
“This new approach announced by the MEC is a move in the right direction and it is what Naptosa has been calling for,” said Moodley.
National Teachers’ Union general secretary Doctor Ngema said the union supported the initiative and applauded the MEC for bringing back the open system of recruitment.
“We raised this and other issues with him during our ‘meet-and-greet’ session, and we’re satisfied that he considered our proposal in this regard.”
Ngema also said that an open vacancy bulletin will help root out nepotism and corruption in the recruitment processes and bring back the legislative powers of the governing bodies to recommend candidates for evel 1 posts.
“As organised labour, we’ll welcome the opportunity to participate as observers in the selection processes and ensure they are free, fair, and unbiased. We look forward to working with all stakeholders, including the governing bodies in recruitment processes,” said Ngema.
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