The Department of Education has refuted claims that permanent positions were promised to contracted staffers and that all participants were made aware of the short-term nature of the position.
This as hundreds of aggrieved assistant teachers employed by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) staged a protest outside its headquarters on Struben Street.
The protesters had camped at the offices on July 30.
The assistant teachers are part of a group of youths who were employed to ease the workload of permanent teachers in Gauteng schools by the provincial government.
The assistant teachers are known as the Gauteng Youth Brigade (GYB) and spokesperson Mamello Segale says that after the group submitted a memorandum at the Union Buildings on July 12 requesting an extension on their contracts, the response received was less than satisfactory.
“We only received feedback on Monday stating that our memorandum fell in between the cracks of their busy schedule. So we submitted another memorandum to our premier, but he hasn’t responded and we submitted another one to the minister. So we want answers to all the memorandums that we have been sending,” said Segale.
Segale said that during negotiations with Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s office, a statement claiming that the office did not promise permanent positions for the contacted assistants was released.
“As I am here with my fellow colleagues, I’m left vulnerable, frustrated and confused because these are the same people that we relied on and who promised us that they would extend forever and ever until the government makes a plan for us but today they are saying they didn’t promise that,” said Segale.
The teachers were employed under the Nasi Ispani campaign of the provincial government, and 32 000 teaching assistants were left unemployed on July 31, despite Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s promise in February that it would be extended to 2025.
The announcement was made by the premier during a rally at Dobsonville Stadium, Soweto.
Segale said the confusion and frustration are causing divisions in the group, as some believe the negotiations were a fruitless exercise and that the GYB leaders are looking out for themselves.
“We need Panyaza to give us answers because he’s the one who caused all this confusion that we are in. How can 32 000 youths become unemployed when our president says he created two million jobs but 32 000 people are excluded from that,” Segale demanded.
He said the contracts offered were nothing more than a political ploy for votes during the National Elections earlier this year.
The protesters had threatened to sleep outside the DBE offices until they were hired permanently. The situation became so intense that police had to fire rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons into the aggravated crowd at one point to disperse them.
MK Youth League Acting Secretary General, Sithembile Nkosi issued a statement the same day, condemning the actions of the DBE and SAPS.
“In a shameful display of brutality and disregard for human rights, the unholy GNU Ministers in the DBE authorised a violent crackdown on these vulnerable, unarmed youth. These young people who braved the cold and camped out at the DBE offices were already tired, weak and hungry but continued their peaceful protest into the next day, where they were met with rubber bullets and aggression,” said Nkosi.
He said the attack was not only on the physical bodies of the protesters, but on their hopes and aspirations moving forward as well.
He added that the ministers in charge of educating and policing the youth chose to harm and suppress them instead.
The statement also called out the premier’s office for its response to previous memorandums.
“Their response, claiming that the memorandum fell through the cracks of a busy period is unacceptable. What is the government so preoccupied with that the urgent concerns of its majority population can be so easily ignored? Who are they really working for, if not for the people that they are supposed to serve?” asked Nkosi.
He said the MKYL is calling for an independent investigation into the decision to fire rubber bullets into the protesters. The MKYL is also demanding that the department figure out a solution that won’t leave the 32 000 youths unemployed.
The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) has since issued a statement on the matter, reaffirming its previous stance.
“The Presidential Youth Employment Initiative PYEI was managed in phases based on the availability of funds. Each phase was duly advertised, and the duration thereof was clearly communicated to all stakeholders. At the end of September 2023, the national initiative ended, as initially scheduled in all provinces,” said spokesperson, Steve Mabona.
Mabona said the department refutes claims that permanent positions were promised to the contracted assistance and that all participants were made aware of the short-term nature of the position.
“The GDE decided to enter into new contracts with GYB candidates, who were still working in Gauteng public schools, for a period of six months (from February to July 2024). The GDE fulfilled this mandate using its own resources and wishes to clarify that there was no promise to extend these contracts beyond July 2024,”
Mabona added the contracts were meant to be on a rotational basis and that the protesters were made aware of this.
“The GDE wishes to clarify that this was never intended to be a permanent employment opportunity, and all candidates were duly informed about this. Candidates who have been protesting were addressed several times about this matter, and this has been thoroughly explained to them,” he said.
Speaking to media house, Tshwane Talks, protester Gugu Thwala said they were shot at without warning or provocation.
“At the time we were shot at we had blockaded one of the entrances to the headquarters with stones peacefully in the morning, police then came and blamed us for blockading the entrance and removed the stones, we then didn’t do anything further and after the department’s workers were evacuated from the headquarters, water cannons and teargas were used by the police to disperse us,” Thwala said.
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