‘Our children deserve better’ – Opposition parties decry Western Cape’s plan to cut 2,400 teacher posts

The Good party’s Brett Herron said the education crisis was a provincial emergency that required an urgent response. (Photo: Leila Dougan)

By Siyabonga Goni

12 Sep 2024

Opposition parties in the Western Cape have expressed frustration over the provincial education department’s plan to cut more than 2,400 teacher posts, describing it as an attack on education.

Following the Western Cape Department of Education’s (WCED) announcement last month that it plans to reduce the number of educator posts by more than 2,400 by 2025 due to a budget crisis, members of the Western Cape provincial legislature are calling for measures to be taken to protect teachers’ jobs.

western cape teacher posts maynier Western Cape Education MEC David Maynier. (Photo: Supplied)

Education MEC David Maynier announced that the department faces a R3.8-billion budget shortfall, partly because it received only 64% of the nationally negotiated wage agreement from the national government.

Read more: ‘The system is going to collapse’ – Union warns Western Cape over plans to slash 2,400 teaching posts

This announcement resulted in the Good party calling for an urgent debate on the decision to cut teaching posts.

In the debate on Thursday, 12 September 2024, the opposition in the provincial legislature said the job cuts were an attack on education.

“Our children deserve better. This is not just about budgets; it is an attack on education in the Western Cape, especially for those in disadvantaged communities,” said the leader of the ANC in the legislature, Khalid Sayed.

“The impact will be devastating for under-resourced schools where students need more attention, not less. Class sizes will balloon, individual support will diminish and the strain on educators will be unbearable.”

western cape teacher posts The Good party’s Brett Herron said the education crisis was a provincial emergency that required an urgent response. (Photo: Leila Dougan)

Good’s Brett Herron, who initiated the debate, said the education crisis was a provincial emergency that required an urgent response. He questioned why the government was continuing to fund its community safety plan while cutting teacher posts.

“This government can make better choices… to choose between policing, defunding education to fund a policing plan that is not working or to look at other areas in their budget where they can cut back to find money to fund teachers’ posts,” said Herron.

Read more: Western Cape education’s forced cost-cutting measures hang contract teachers out to dry while angering union

During the debate, Duwyane Jacobs, from the National Coloured Congress, asked the province’s DA leaders why the funding cuts could not be resolved while the DA was in the government of national unity (GNU) and the party’s Siviwe Gwarube served as basic education minister.

“For many years, the DA placed the shortages of funds to the doorstep of the ANC. The government of national unity now has a DA minister of [basic] education and the budget cuts are now higher than before.”

“Is this GNU a sinking ship? How do you rescue South Africa if you can’t even rescue education?” asked Jacobs.

‘Class sizes will increase’

Maynier was glum in his response. He expressed concern that teachers would lose their jobs and class sizes would increase if the Western Cape government could not fund the current budget.

“Class sizes and workloads will increase, and the uncertainty and anxiety will take a personal toll on our teachers and on our families,” said Maynier.

“The reduction of posts will mean that some contract teachers will not be reappointed after their contracts end in December 2024, and some permanent teachers will be asked to move to another school where there is a suitable vacancy.”

Responding to Herron’s claims that the province was defunding education, Maynier said the Western Cape had the largest education budget in the country.

“We added R6.39-billion to the education budget baseline over the past three financial years. We have implemented the biggest learning recovery programme in the country, and added over 1,800 teaching posts in schools in a decade,” said Maynier.

The MEC has called on political parties and unions to work together and prevent teacher job cuts.

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, who was also part of the debate, said the provincial government had been sending letters to the National Treasury requesting further funds. The premier blamed the ANC for the budget shortfall.

Winde said education departments had been underfunded by tens of billions over the years while failing state-owned enterprises received hundreds of billions in bailouts.

The South African Democratic Teachers Union also attended the debate as guests.

On Friday, there will be a protest against the WCED job cuts in Cape Town’s CBD led by activist Abeedah Adams. DM

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‘Class sizes will increase’