A war of words has broken out between the Presidency and DA leader Helen Zille after she accused President Jacob Zuma of perpetuating “unequal Bantu education” through “politically expedient” backing for teachers’ union Sadtu, an affiliate of ANC ally Cosatu.
Zille made the comments on Human Rights Day when she led a 2 000-strong march to Sadtu’s offices in Port Elizabeth and spoke out against teachers’ right to strike trumping that of children to have an uninterrupted education.
A Presidency statement quoted the offending passage from Zille’s speech: “The conduct of Sadtu over the last two years is nothing short of a national disgrace. It deserves censure from every leader, of every party. To see President Zuma so flippantly thank Sadtu in his State of the Nation Address was to witness political expediency in its worst form.
“The president sold out the potential and future prospects of every South African learner for a few extra votes in Mangaung.
“And he thereby helped to perpetuate the crime of unequal ‘Bantu education’.”
Expressing “shock and disappointment”, Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj accused Zille of misleading the public by saying Zuma had praised Sadtu.
“That is a gross fabrication and distortion. President Zuma did not mention Sadtu at all in the 2012 State of the Nation address, and to say the president helped to perpetuate Bantu education is preposterous.”
Maharaj said Zuma had urged teachers to be in class, on time and teaching and had thanked teacher unions for supporting this campaign. Zuma had referred to all the teacher unions, Maharaj said.
Sadtu and the Eastern Cape government had also signed an agreement to get teaching and learning back on track.
“It is regrettable that Premier Zille decided to mislead the nation in this manner,” he said.
Zille, who was on Thursday also defending herself against criticism for referring, on Twitter, to Eastern Cape residents who moved to the Western Cape as “refugees”, shot back. While accepting that Zuma “did not single out Sadtu”, she said he should have rebuked Sadtu.
“He even looked sheepish as he said it because he knew he should have been condemning Sadtu, but chose not to for expedient reasons,” Zille said.
Sadtu’s go-slow in a province with the lowest matric pass rates had “sacrificed education outcomes on the altar of material gain”.
The DA wants education declared an essential service, which would outlaw teachers going on strike – but Sadtu has accused the party of union-bashing.
“We’ve got to break the stranglehold that Sadtu has on our schools,. The president, instead of attacking me for exposing his own expediency, should face that fact – and then do something about it,” Zille said. - Political Bureau