Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal Education Department stands to lose an undisclosed amount of money in penalties after on Tuesday’s postponement of a two-day summit, which was set to start on Wednesday at Durban’s Olive Convention Centre.
The summit was meant to discuss ways to improve matric and Annual National Assessment results. About 2 000 delegates, including academics from various universities, were expected to attend.
Philani Mazibuko, an employee at the centre, said he was instructed to only confirm the postponement of the event, and that manager, Aaron Daniels, would be available during working hours to provide details about the event.
The Daily News understands that decoration, morning refreshments and casual staff members had already been arranged at the venue.
It is not clear what will happen to the arrangement about casual staff or how much the department will have to pay for the postponement.
The SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) is claiming victory for the postponement of the summit.
Union provincial secretary, Nomarashiya Caluza, said they (Sadtu) turned down the invitation to take part because they were not involved in the planning stages, and that it was a waste of taxpayers’ money.
At a media briefing at Sadtu House yesterday, Caluza said: “The summit idea was merely a talk show and public relations exercise through which the department has extravagantly spent scarce state resources.
“In appreciation of the austerity measures that hamstrung the department, priorities were agreed upon in 2011 and an implementation programme was to be developed taking into consideration such fiscal pressures.
“There are teachers who have not been paid since January, and there are unfilled office-based positions. All this because of one song the department has mastered over the years that ‘there’s no money’.
“They have adopted this song as their national anthem yet they make unnecessary expenditures,” Caluza said.
She said that with the absence of the teachers at the event, the department knew it would have been an embarrassment had the event gone ahead.
“It’s teachers who should be telling other stakeholders about the challenges in the classrooms. So to unilaterally plan such an event without consulting the union is to undermine the teachers union.”
Finance MEC, Belinda Scott, said she was not aware of the summit cancellation, and that she could not comment on issues involving one particular department.
“In general, hiring of venues outside of government establishment is prohibited. Exceptions are made with the blessing of the accounting officers if existing venues are not big enough to accommodate the envisaged number of delegates to an event,” Scott said.
Presenting her maiden budget speech in the provincial legislature three weeks ago, Scott appealed to all departments to adhere to the provincial government’s cost-cutting measures to see the province through the “hard financial period”.
For the 2015/16 financial year, the education department was the biggest beneficiary, receiving R42.142bn.
“…It is imperative that we keep our eyes on the ball and that we maintain our focus on achieving good financial discipline,” Scott said at the time.
On Tuesday, she said postponed events were viewed as fruitless and the auditor-general picked up such expenditures during the audits.
“If departments choose to ignore the cost-cutting measures, then a disciplinary procedure is invoked after matters are investigated,” she said.
Education MEC, Peggy Nkonyeni, said initially, the summit had been planned for another venue, and after comparing the cost, it was decided that the Olive Convention Centre was the cheapest.
She said the planning was poor and having looked at it, “I realised we would not get the envisaged outcome if we did not postpone and re-plan”.
Daily News