Pule waga Mabe
The Association of South African Historically Disadvantaged Institutions has lashed out at staff members of tertiary institutions for resorting to industrial action as a means of resolving problems.
Jackie Kelly of Andrew Levy and Associates says about 20?000 working days were lost to strikes in the higher education sector over the past five years. Most of the strikes were in demand for higher salary increases and in protest against restructuring and retrenchments.
Itumeleng Mosala, chair of the association and vice-chancellor of Technikon North West, says staff members should concentrate on teaching and producing good students rather than toyi-toying during working hours.
”Staff members should assist in finding common ground to problems, rather than revolting,” says Mosala. ”Industrial action at institutions of higher learning should be used as a last resort.”
He says there are structural and political reasons why staff are more likely to strike at historically disadvantaged institutions (HDIs) than at historically advantaged ones. ”Working conditions at most black institutions breed unhappiness.”
Mosala says shortages of resources at HDIs also breed discontent about inequalities.
”[HDIs] offer a good climate for union uprisings,” Mosala says. In the past, staffers at black institutions were encouraged by their management to participate in the struggle for democracy. Now those staffers expect management’s support when they disrupt learning in protest against their material conditions.
Mosala says another reason for the turmoil is divisions between staff members.
At Technikon Northern Gauteng, for instance, the National Union of Technikon Employees of South Africa (Nutesa) and the National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) had a major difference over pay increases. Both unions initially demanded a 10% salary increase and management offered 7%. Nehawu agreed to management’s offer, while Nutesa insisted on 10% and its members mostly white staff went on strike for a week in February.
Mosala says councils at most HDIs should be educated on their role and responsibilities and should not be elected on populism or favouritism because it creates problems in institutions. ”We must never get to a situation where the minister appoints an assessor.”
This week Minister of Education Kader Asmal appointed Tefo Raditapole as a facilitator at Mangosuthu Technikon, where staff have been on strike since the beginning of the year. Raditapole will mediate between the technikon’s council and Nutesa and is expected to deliver a final report on the situation to Asmal in five weeks.
The strike was caused by the reinstatement of vice-chancellor and principal Aaron Ndlovu and the suspension of a disciplinary inquiry into allegations that he victimised staff and is guilty of nepotism and unauthorised expenditure.
The University of Transkei is entering its third year of being run by an assessor after staff members embarked on industrial action calling for the suspension of the rector.
An assessor was appointed at the University of the North last year after concerned staff members called for the suspension of the vice-chancellor. The university is among the hardest hit by industrial action.
The South African Student Congress (Sasco) which spearheaded student boycotts across South Africa a decade ago says despite the fact that people have the right to strike, the number of teaching days lost was ”unacceptable”.
Ray Jaftha, national organiser for Nehawu in the higher education sector, says in the past five years most industrial action has taken place because of staff resisting transformation. ”People try to portray HDIs as being useless, and [that they] should close down, but that is not correct.”
Nasima Badsha of the higher education unit in the Department of Education said there was concern at the number of days lost to strikes, particularly if it translated into lost teaching hours.
”We hope that every effort is made at institutional level to minimise the impact of strikes on teaching and learning. Given the figures available, the department will carefully monitor the situation,” Badsha said.
Additional reporting by Ntuthuko Maphumulo