statement by UDM Co-leaders
The UDM calls on all the relevant parties involved in the pending education crisis to, in the interest of education, work towards finding a solution. The frustration within the education community is understandable and well founded. Minister Bengu can not merely ignore what are realistic and profound concerns. Education forms the basis of the development of the human resource in South Africa. Attention must be given when professionals in that domain indicate that planned steps by government will influence negatively on the professional service. The arrogance of the Minister of Education will not contribute towards finding a solution.
What is happening in education is a reflection of what is happening in all other spheres of government where transformation through rationalization, without proper consultation and agreed upon criteria takes place. This results in a very high uncertainty amongst government officials and contributes to very low productivity. The UDM calls on government to suspend all further retrenchments within the civil service and to work towards agreed criteria after proper consultation with the interested parties. Retrenchment on its own is not transformation and the one sided, arrogant approach with which it is conducted by government only leads to distrust and low moral. The absence of a contingency plan to assist those who are retrenched contribute to further impoverishment. Government should address the issue of retrenchment in a far more sensitive and co-ordinated way.