SADTU WESTERN CAPE STATEMENT ON THE DECLARATION OF THE 2025 BASKET OF EDUCATOR POSTS
20 August 2024
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) in the Western Cape rejects, with the contempt it deserves, the Western Cape Education Department’s (WCED)’s proposal to reduce the 2025 basket of educator posts.
Consultations with the Education MEC started on 23 July 2024 with teacher unions and SGB organisations. The WCED communicated their intention to reduce the basket of posts from the current 37 135 to 34 728, which is a decrease of 2 407 posts. WCED’s motivation for the reduction is based on the results of the 2024 fiscal outlook due to the cut in the WCED education budget, where National Treasury funded only 64% of the Compensation for Employees which resulted in a shortfall of R3,8 billion over the 2024 MTEF. The consultation was concluded on 14 August 2024 with the Head of Department outlining the distribution of posts.
While we acknowledge the reduction of the WCED budget, we believe that the employer did not explore all areas where they could reduce spending. SADTU Western Cape proposed areas in which the provincial education department could redirect funding from, e.g., scrapping the Back on Track program for 2025, putting the Systemic Evaluations on hold, as well as the implementation of no penalties for educators who exit the system at the age of fifty-five years. Unfortunately, there is no political will from WCED to free those funds in order to fund educator posts.
The poor working-class communities will bear the brunt of the reduction of the posts’ basket. It is a well-known fact that quality public education is the only way out for the poor to escape the cycle of poverty. Education remains one of the key areas that will address the current financial meltdown in the country, and as a union we have a firm belief that Cost Containment measures should never be applied to social services that are rendered to the citizens of this country.
Cutting the number of educator posts contradicts WCED’s Five-Year strategy on the conviction that every child has the right to a quality education to optimize opportunities to change lives and build a better future for themselves. Cutting the number of educator posts will have dire consequences for the poor working-class schools that are already overcrowded and cannot afford to employ additional School Governing Body (SGB) staff. Overcrowded classrooms will affect the wellbeing of teachers and result in an increase in disciplinary challenges at schools.
The challenge of access to education will be increased as there is no budget for learners who migrate from other provinces. The brunt of WCED decisions to cut the number of posts will be borne by the vulnerable poor working-class children who, by far, are black (So called colored and African), and this will increase the already existing gap between the poor and those who can afford to pay.
The only welcome proposals by the employer are the retention of the status quo in Grade R, the withdrawal of circular 34 of 2023 and 8 of 2024, maintaining the National School Nutrition Program, and the provision of Learning and Teaching Material and Learner Transport.
ISSUED BY: SADTU Western Cape Secretariat