Police officers on Thursday shot rubber bullets at protesters burning African National Congress T-shirts bearing pictures of President Thabo Mbeki’s face during a march to the mayor’s office in Moutse, a municipality of greater Groblersdal.
More than 30 marchers were injured in the scuffle, and 46 protesters were arrested and charged for public violence. Among those arrested was community organiser Seun Mogotji, a member of the South African Communist Party, which organised the march. They will appear in court on Friday.
The district was last year moved from Mpumalanga to Limpopo province after local elections, despite objections to the demarcation process voiced by community members.
The aim of Thursday’s march was to hand a memorandum to executive mayor Dickson Masemola, who was absent. Instead, municipal manager Tito Nkadimeng accepted the memorandum, which voiced the community’s dissatisfaction with services in Limpopo province, especially health and education.
Education issues highlighted in the memorandum, which was addressed to President Thabo Mbeki, included teachers also working as municipal counsellors, thus failing to fulfil their duties as teachers.
Dissatisfaction about demarcation in Moutse had already reached boiling point at the beginning of this month when the community suspended all schooling in the district, and some commentators said anger at the demarcation issue also fuelled Thursday’s march.
Mogotji last week told the Mail & Guardian that the community had decided to close all schools until further notice in protest against what it claimed was the Limpopo provincial government’s failure to provide sufficient textbooks, stationery and money for schools.
A Limpopo government source felt that ”the issue of closing schools is not about stationery; it is more about the cross-boundary issue. They [the Moutse community] will use anything as a smokescreen.”
Before Thursday’s shooting, protesters and many students had been keen to go back to school next week, but now will not do so until they hear from Mbeki’s office, said Mogotji.
Last year, the M&G reported that 500 teachers did not receive their salaries during July. It was reported that the teachers blamed the government for the non-payment, which they claimed was caused by the transfer of government assets and duties from Mpumalanga to Limpopo.
Teachers’ fears
Siphiwe, a primary-school teacher in Moutse central who did not want to use her real name, said parents in Moutse have to buy textbooks for their children, despite most of them being unemployed — one parent, she said, had to pay close to R600.
”I am thinking of moving to Mpumalanga to find a job,” she added. A salary, she feels, is no longer guaranteed at the end of the month.
Another parent, a farmer, is furious at the situation. She wants her five children to go back to school. ”I don’t support the decision to close schools. I don’t support Limpopo or Mpumalanga,” she said.
Elvis Madisha, a teacher at Njinga Sindane Primary School in OR Tambo village, believes the school strike is ”making the area poorer”.
”Teachers are migrating from this place [Moutse] to Gauteng and Mpumalanga,” resulting in inexperienced teachers working in Moutse’s schools, he said.
A principal of one high school said his school had not been affected by the lack of stationery, as there was a surplus from the previous year. ”Schools have nothing to do with politics; the shortage can be addressed while schools are open,” he said.
Who is to blame?
Confusion over which province is providing services to Moutse is creating even more tension in the community. Provincial departments in Limpopo and Mpumalanga contacted by the M&G this week could not say which province was to blame for the shortages in schools.
The Limpopo department of education is not to blame, media liaison officer Ndo Mangala said after some hesitation. He said both Limpopo and Mpumalanga would still render services to Moutse until the end of March.
Seemingly unsure at first, an Mpumalanga department official agreed. Based on the service-level agreement between both provinces, said Hlahla Ngwenya, spokesperson for the department of education, Mpumalanga is meant to service Moutse until the end of the financial year.
”We are not aware of this shortage [of textbooks, money and stationery], and we can only be aware of it if there is a submission made,” said Ngwenya, who added that his department would look into the matter.
However, Tefo Matibedi, chief administration clerk for the department of education in Moutse, said a report on the situation had been sent last Friday to both the Mpumalanga and Limpopo education departments.