Pretoria - Cabinet has welcomed the discussions between the Department of Basic Education and the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu), which led to the suspension of protest action.
Acting Cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams on Thursday said the executive had called on all stakeholders in the education sector to resolve their disputes so that the education of young people is not compromised.
Earlier this month, the Department of Basic Education agreed to attend to some of the demands made by Sadtu, with the union in return agreeing to suspend all work-to-rule (where employees do no more than the minimum required by the rules of their contract in order to cause a slowdown) and other actions which may hamper teaching.
Sadtu began its work-to-rule action earlier this year, in which it called on teachers to limit their involvement in schools to simply classroom teaching and to stay away from after-hours meetings, workshops and activities arranged by the department.
The department has also agreed to refer the union’s allegations of corruption against Education Director General Bobby Soobrayan and other officials at the department to the Public Service Commission to investigate as a matter of urgency.
The department also agreed to refer for investigation the union’s concern over Motshekga’s withdrawal from a signed collective agreement to increase pay for exam markers to a task team made up of representatives of the unions and the department.
Briefing the media in Parliament earlier this month, Motshekga said she was confident that Sadtu had distanced itself from the incident which took place last month, when union members had displayed underwear they listed as Motshekga’s during a march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria. – SAnews.gov.za
