President Jacob Zuma has approved the establishment of a judicial commission of inquiry into allegations of job promotion racketeering by Sadtu members.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga told the City Press she met the president on Friday night.
"He told me he was also taken aback by the report [about the racketeering] and that we have to act and deal with it immediately," Motshekga was quoted as saying.
The inquiry will look into reports that SA Democratic Teachers Union members were allegedly selling principal and deputy principal positions at schools for upwards of R30,000 each.
"If the reports are true and principals are being forced out of schools with a gun to their heads and told not to come back, then we have a very dangerous situation on our hands which cannot be allowed to continue," Motshekga said, adding that protection would need to be given to potential witnesses.
The minister was now set to meet the presidency's legal advisors on Monday to work out the logistical details of the inquiry.
Sadtu general-secretary Mugwena Malukele said the union had asked the SA Council of Educators and the Education Labour Relations Council to investigate the allegations.
He said the union had not sanctioned 'posts for sale'.
"It is individuals who do it," said Malukele.
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