Cape Town - Opposition parties are calling for the head of Western Cape Education MEC Debbie Schäfer, citing unsafe school construction projects, closure of schools and dormant computer labs.
A debate on education and school buildings in the provincial legislature became more of a shouting match on Thursday as opposition parties launched the attack on the DA-led provincial government and Schäfer in particular.
ANC MPLs described Schäfer as “petulant, arrogant and frankly incapable” of leading the drive for quality education in the province.
ANC MPL Theo Olivier said: “It is time for Schäfer do the honourable thing, and resign.
“Our call is for this minister, who is uncaring and arrogant, to resign.”
ANC MPL Cameron Dugmore said: “For the last five years, hundreds of computer labs have been standing dormant, white elephants. This despite us informing Premier Helen Zille personally about this because I’ve given up on MEC Schäfer.”
Dugmore then turned his attention to the premier, blaming Zille directly for “putting narrow party interest above those of the province”, instead opting to fight the ANC national government and in doing so, “giving new meaning to blame-and-complain politics”.
“This will be your legacy when you leave premier, a province where the social pathologies, which impact on quality education, are worse than when you started as premier.
“You should be ashamed of yourself and you did all this and more driving racist fears to try and drive a wedge between coloured and whites against Africans. And when you reached your sealing of votes through racist mobilisation and the most basic ‘swartgevaar’ tactics you have reached your sell-by date and the DA spat you out.”
Dugmore said Zille chose Schäfer even though she had no experience, because Schäfer was one of two people who still supported Zille in her own caucus.
He said if there were 400 children in Claremont who had not been placed in school 30 days into the school year, Schäfer would have been fired.
“It is time for you to resign. You need to go because you are bad for this province,” Dugmore said.
EFF MPL Bernard Joseph accused the DA government of selectively providing education to pupils along racial lines while the ACDP’s Ferlon Christians said that inequalities still exist in education, and accused teaching unions of having too much power.
“Sadtu must be given a bloody nose because they are not promoting the interest of our learners and educators,” he said.
Schäfer, in her response, said claims that local government had failed to provide quality education to all “is erroneous, misguided and unfounded”.
“Quite frankly, the ANC’s hypocrisy knows no bounds. From reporting me to the Human Rights Commission for applying the very same policy that was applied under the ANC government, to writing blatantly false information on a closed Facebook page so that we cannot comment and give the correct facts,” she said.
The MEC said the reality was that the debate had been an attempt to obfuscate the ANC’s dismal performance in education wherever it was in power.
“Under the DA, the Western Cape is the only province to have implemented a number of processes to measure our performance… We are the only province to conduct systemic tests in Grades 3, 6 and 9,” she said.
Schäfer added that the Western Cape was also the only province to have instituted competency assessments for the appointment of principals and the only province to insist on competency testing for matric markers.
“The ANC, who stand here today accusing us of not providing quality education, has not implemented any of these quality improvement measures either nationally, or in any province it governs,” she said.
She said the ANC tried to cling onto “one incident here and another there”, which it tries to portray the DA as an uncaring government, when the opposite was true.
DA MPL Lennit Max said the DA delivered school infrastructure and dignity to learners where the ANC failed to do so.
“The ANC only managed to replace 36 schools when they were in power, but the DA has already replaced almost twice as many schools,” he said.
Cape Argus