Durban – The report on the investigation into the so-called “Cash for Jobs” scandal has recommended, among other things, that the basic education department establish a dedicated unit to receive complaints from whistle-blowers.
The long-awaited report was released by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga late on Friday night. It revealed that many in the department were not prepared to make affidavits or cooperate with the ministerial task team (MTT) Motshekga appointed to investigate the allegations reported in a City Press newspaper expose two years ago that jobs in the department were being sold for cash payments, often with the involvement of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu).
The seven-member MTT, led by Professor John Volminck, recommended that “action be taken quickly to protect whistle-blowers”. It was recommended that the education department establish a dedicated unit to receive complaints about the selling of posts and to direct such reports to competent authorities and follow up those reports.
This recommendation was one of 16 the MTT made in its report.
The MTT also recommended that Motshegka call in the SA Police Service (SAPS) to prosecute certain teachers it identified.
It further recommended that the department take action against those who were responsible for rooting out corruption but failed to take any action.
In a clear reference to teacher unions, the MTT recommended that the department “regain control of administering and managing the education system in all provinces so that clear distinctions are established between the roles and functions of the [department] and the concerns of teachers’ unions”.
According to the MTT, the department had real control only over three of the provincial education departments – the Western Cape, the Northern Cape, and the Free State.
The MTT also recommended that the powers of school governing bodies be curtailed regarding senior appointments and that the necessary legislative changes be enacted to enforce this.
On the appointment of principals, the MTT recommended that “principals be selected by panels which have the resources to evaluate the competence and suitability of the candidates for their leadership and management as well as their academic, experiential, and professional abilities”.
It also said that the unions’ involvement in the selection process of senior people should be curtailed.
“Despite vehement disclaimers by teacher unions that their representatives at selection panels are mere observers, it has been made clear to the MTT that they frequently play active and interventionist roles. This is not acceptable practice.”
It also recommended that those appointed to provincial and district posts in the respective departments should first prove that they could actually do the job before being appointed, and that such appointments should not be political.
In a further bid to curb the political influence of unions and political parties, the MTT recommended that: “That both school- and office-based educators cease to be office-bearers of political parties, and to avoid the undesirability of conflict of interest, educators in management posts (including school principals) should not occupy leadership positions in teachers’ unions.”
In one of the harder hitting recommendations the report stated: “Given the evidence provided, it is the impression of the task team that the exercise of undue influence (a polite word for corruption) is endemic to greater and lesser degrees in the entire education system and that as a first move to cleanse the system, cadre deployment should not be permitted.”
In line with that, it recommended an end to cadre deployment to posts within the department.
But while the education department bore the brunt of recommendations, the South African Council of Educators (SACE) also came in for some criticism.
The organisation describes itself on its website as “the professional council for educators that aims to enhance the status of the teaching profession through appropriate registration, management of professional development, and inculcation of a code of ethics for all educators”.
All teachers have to be registered with the SACE, but according to the MTT, the organisation “has become sectarian by virtue of the domination of a single teacher union and its allegiance to one political party”.
It recommended that the organisation be “reconceptualised” and freed from union and political domination.
African News Agency