Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education said it intended freezing teacher positions where candidates had been killed or threatened.
Head of department, Nkosinathi Sishi, made the call on Monday.
Department spokesman, Muzi Mahlambi, said: “In an anarchic environment you need to take drastic action… We are sick and tired of the killing of our educators.”
Recently, Nokuthula Magwanyana was killed in Pietermaritzburg after she received death threats demanding she resign as principal.
A week after her murder, Ulundi’s Imbilane High School principal, Bongani Zulu, was shot dead in his home.
Mahlambi said there had been situations where members of interview panels had withdrawn because they feared for their lives.
Before the freeze becomes policy, the department said it would consult unions, and a circular would then be sent to schools.
Mahlambi could not say when the department would talk with unions, but said they would try to do so as soon as possible.
National Teachers’ Union deputy president, Allen Thompson, said they would meet the department and try to find out what had motivated the announcement.
“We do have our own proposal that will combat these killings,” Thompson said.
He said the union was worried about corruption in the department.
“We have information that certain officials are corrupting the process,” he said.
He said they had received more information that school governing bodies were under pressure to choose certain candidates.
Daily News
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