An estimated 1000 Gauteng teachers bunked class this week for a South African Democratic Teachers (Sadtu) meeting in Soweto, defying calls that it should refrain from holding meetings during teaching time.
At a regional mass meeting held on Thursday at Orlando Communal Hall in Soweto, speaker after speaker vowed to continue to work hard for the ANC and ensure that its president, Jacob Zuma, leads the country after the April 22 polls.
Moss Senye, who chaired the meeting, told members that Sadtu would not apologise for publicly supporting the ANC. “We should work hard so that on April 22 we can celebrate the victory because Jacob Zuma would be the president of this country,” said Senye to loud applause.
Teachers who attended yesterday’s meeting came from areas as far as Lanseria, Diepsloot, Witkoppen, Cosmo City, Alexandra, Lenasia and Eldorado Park. Some teachers said they hardly had time to teach because they had to leave their schools as early as 10am so that they could arrive on time for the meeting scheduled for noon.
Senye said if necessary, in future they would call meetings earlier to enable their members who live far to return home.
It was reported that other regions held similar meetings, suggesting that there was virtually no schooling in the province. The meetings took place in the Northern region, which covers areas such as Thembisa, Mamelodi, Pretoria Central and East Rand Central, which caters for Daveyton, Wadeville and Thokoza.
Senye also used the opportunity to take a swipe at the education authorities. He called teachers to defy principals who continue to implement some of the apartheid-linked practices such as ‘early departure and late arrival registers’.
“You must refuse to sign those forms because they are part of the past system which we fought against,” he said. He also reiterated the region’s call that members of Sadtu should not attend workshops on Saturdays or after hours. “We say there is no work after 15h00 and if this happens, then it must be treated as over-time,” said Senye.
Senye told the packed hall that Sadtu would deal with principals of some schools in Eldorado Park and Lenasia because “they do as they please”, threatening they “would be removed”. Continued Senye: “when we remove them comrades, we must ensure we replace them with our own (Sadtu) activists.”
The region’s fiery secretary, Reginald Nyathi, warned members who betray the union to watch out. “We have just expelled two members from Alexandra branch because they invited Willie Madisha (former president of Sadtu) to come and address them.
We cannot allow a situation where our resources are used to mobilise support for our opponents, particularly Congress of the People (Cope). So members who sympathise with the expelled members would suffer same consequences and we would make sure we make their situation unbearable,” Nyathi said ominously.
Uhuru Moiloa, who represented the ANC, said his party would ensure teachers are adequately compensated to retain skills within the profession. He said the ANC is proud to be associated with a progressive teachers’ union like Sadtu.
Banele Majuba, Sadtu’s deputy president updated members about salary negotiations ahead of talks next month. He said Sadtu would push for a two-digit increase, citing 15% as their ballpark figure.