Lecturers, academic staff, and students from UCT's School of Education picket along Main Road near the Faculty of Humanities. The protest, primarily led by postgraduate students set to enter the job market, is in response to the Western Cape Education Department's announcement of more than 2,400 teaching job cuts starting January 2025. Picture Henk Kruger / Independent Media
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has announced plans for a stay away, and called on workers to support their protest action against the Western Cape Education Department’s (WCED) teacher cuts.
The protest is set to take place on February 26, coinciding with the day of Premier Alan Winde’s State of the Province Address in Beaufort West.
Cosatu on Monday joined hands with other trade unions and organisations to declare their outrage over what they said was the department’s “its unilateral draconian decision to cut over 2000 teacher posts”.
The WCED announced in August last year its plan to cut approximately 2400 teachers from its payroll, which came into effect at the start of the year.
According to the WCED, the decision came after they received only 64% of the cost of the nationally negotiated wage agreement, leaving the province to fund the remaining 36%, resulting in a budget shortfall of R3.8 billion over the next three years.
The move led to protest action, and legal action being taken over the matter last year.
Cosatu provincial spokesperson Malvern de Bruyn said it is seeking a one-day shutdown for businesses in the province over the cuts.
De Bruyn said that they were taking this action after the matter was referred to the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), and thereafter they failed to reach an agreement, which has now prompted them to take strike action.
“We want the provincial government and the MEC to change their mindset and review the decision and reinstate those workers whose contract were terminated.”
The WCED has previously explained that they did not cut the 2400 jobs but that over half of the posts that were removed were vacant.
“Permanently employed teachers will be asked to move to where there is a suitable vacant post. Contract teachers have not been reappointed after their contracts ended on 31 December 2024.
“However, with an average of 2,100 teachers leaving our department each year for reasons such as relocation or retirement, there will be vacancies opening up for these teachers to apply for,” they said.
De Bruyn meanwhile argued that the department is not open and honest “as there is money in the fiscus”.
“We are saying reprioritise your budget and bring the money back to education. They use the money for safety and security, but the sad reality is that they are just now missing workers again.... we are saying reprioritise and bring the money back to where it belongs.”
Maynier said that they reduced the Basket of Posts to remain fiscally stable.
“Every province has been affected by the national government’s decision, which is why all provinces have been working together through the Council of Education Ministers to approach the National Treasury.
“During the Adjustment Budget, we made it clear that we were working on a plan to ensure that we could deal with the increase in learner numbers in 2025,” Maynier said.
“By making even deeper cuts into our existing budget, we have been able to provide up to 477 posts to staff new schools and schools that have a significant increase in learner numbers.
“We will continue to do everything we can to fight for our teachers, and to fight for quality education in the Western Cape.”
Premier Alan Winde said that they respect organised labour’s right to embark on industrial action, but “as I’ve always said it is counter-productive to protest during the working week when we are doing everything we can to kickstart economic growth”.
Cape Times