"This indicates the inability of this teacher union to understand, and take responsibility for, many of the basic ills that have bedevilled education within South Africa during the past 18 years," DA member of the KZN legislature Tom Stokes said in a statement.

His attack on Sadtu came after the KwaZulu-Natal's union secretary Mbuyiseni Mathonsi accused the ANC of adopting the DA's policies.

KwaZulu-Natal ANC secretary Sihle Zikalala told reporters in Durban on Monday that the African National Congress would propose that education be declared an essential service, at the national conference to be held later this month in Gauteng.

People working in essential services may not go on strike.

Stokes said the call for education to be made an essential service first came from the DA.

"Education is the most politicised terrain in South Africa and also, not surprisingly, the most damaged. It offers a platform for only one side, because the most affected -- the learners -- have no voice," Stokes said.

Mathonsi had also criticised premier Zweli Mkhize's support for the youth wage subsidy, which was also supported by the DA.