Faced with the looming catastrophe of the 7.5% salary increase for teachers in the 2024/25 financial year, aggravated by budget cuts, Gauteng MEC for Education Matome Chiloane is determined to save teachers’ jobs.
The MEC says that unlike the Western Cape Department of Education, which has decided it would not be filling in 2 400 jobs next year, Gauteng would rather slash various education programmes.
This is not a simple matter that can be solved by cutting some of the education programmes, thus negatively impacting learners who end up being victims, while saving teachers’ jobs. It is not as easy as that, besides, you can’t solve a problem by creating other problems.
It should be borne in mind that the public servants who are making the outrageous demands are normal, intelligent people who are well aware of the sorry state of our economy, which has seen many years of stagnation. The country is surviving on loans from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which have become difficult to service. These are people who should be grateful they have jobs, while millions are trapped in endless poverty, no end in sight.
This is an emergency situation that requires a concerted co-ordinated approach, where all stakeholders need to put their heads together and come up with a workable permanent solution involving all all trade unions and the following departments: Basic Education and Higher Education, Labour, Public Service and Administration, Finance and Treasury; the Presidency and all provincial Education MECs.
One wonders if the selfish, violent, greedy attitude of South African trade unions has been a major contributor in intimidating potential investors, where some unions challenge the gap between their salaries and that of CEOs.
Many countries do have trade unions but none are as demanding and violent as ours.
Cometh Dube-Makholwa | Midrand