Johannesburg -
About 4 000 teachers have resigned from their jobs in the past five years in Gauteng to get their pension payouts, only to be reappointed afterwards.
Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi revealed this during a question-and-answer session in the Gauteng legislature this week.
DA education MPL Khume Ramulifho had asked Lesufi how many reports of posts being sold in the province the department had received.
The answer was three cases.
Lesufi said 3 834 teachers had resigned and were then reappointed, as were 127 heads of department and 18 deputy principals.
During a recent scandal, it emerged that teacher unions and department officials were selling principal and deputy principal positions at schools for upwards of R30 000 each.
The Department of Education ordered an investigation into the selling of posts.
A task team, headed by academic Professor John Volmink and including a representative from the departments of justice and of public service and administration, a human resource specialists, a legal expert and an auditing firm, were appointed.
Ramulifho said he believed there were more than three cases of posts being sold in Gauteng.
He also believed that more needed to be done to stop teachers from resigning and cashing in their pensions, only to return to the job a few months later.
“There are cases where people in high positions are talked into resigning so that someone else can be given the job,” Ramulifho said.
“Those educators can then reapply for a job and go back into the system.
“Even if they get a job in a lower position, they will still be paid the same salary they were getting before they left.”
He said a principal, for instance, could leave and return as a teacher, but his salary scale would be the same as when he was the head of the school.
Another reason why teachers resigned, said Ramulifho, was that they were desperate to get their pension money because they faced financial difficulties.
“The way to solve this is to make sure there is a performance contract in place where teachers are rewarded for hard work,” he said.