NEHAWU Eastern Cape Statement On The Suspension Of Senior Officials By The Department Of Education
Sunday January 09, 2022
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] in the Eastern Cape welcomes the decisive action taken by the Department of Education to suspend three senior officials for the delays and discrepancies on the payment and processing of stipends meant for Education Assistants and General Workers.
The union commends the prompt action taken against the three officials responsible for overseeing the process of transferring monthly stipends to schools, in order for Education Assistants and General Assistants to be paid their stipends.
In December 2021, some schools including special schools did not receive their allocation of stipends on time and this affected more than 26 877 Education Assistants and 13 439 General Assistants. These workers did not receive their monthly stipends on time and were unable to provide for their families during the festive season. The non-payment of stipends for these workers, the majority of whom are young people, directly undermines the spirit of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI) which, amongst others, seeks to respond to the challenge of youth unemployment. The Eastern Cape has a high-rate unemployment and is ravaged by poverty and underdevelopment for such costly and reckless actions by the three officials.
As NEHAWU, we believe the action taken is a step in the right direction to send a clear message to senior officials in the Department of Education in particular, and the Provincial Administration in general, that all shall be held accountable for dereliction of duty.
The union calls on other departments in the province to follow suit and ensure that they execute their mandates to ensure that qualitative service delivery reaches the intended end-users timeously. This can only be achieved when departments take to task senior officials who commit administrative infractions believing they are immune from accountability. Senior officials repeatedly commit acts of ill-discipline, maladministration, underperform with no punishment, while ordinary and junior workers are disciplined and dismissed daily for frivolous of transgressions and made scapegoats for senior officials.
Lastly, as NEHAWU, we hope that the suspension of the three senior officials is not just a public relations stunt, but the investigation process shall be expedited to its logical conclusion.
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Issued by NEHAWU Eastern Cape Secretariat
For more information, please contact: Mlu Ncapayi (Eastern Cape Provincial Secretary) at 063 685 1923
email Mlungiseleli@nehawu.org.za or Sweetness Stokwe (Eastern Cape Provincial Deputy Secretary) at 063 685 1904