'Nothing works' - EC head of education

IN A candid affidavit, the head of the Eastern Cape education department has admitted his department is an utter failure, with no decision-making capability, poor leadership and no financial controls.

IN A candid affidavit, the head of the Eastern Cape education department has admitted his department is an utter failure, with no decision-making capability, poor leadership and no financial controls.

In court papers filed on Tuesday, head of department Mthunywa Ngonzo said that it was this sorry state that prohibited the department from filling thousands of vacant posts for teachers.

He also blamed the South African Democratic Teachers' Union for leading a "revolt" in which teachers did not even follow a basic departmental instruction.

After the Legal Resource Centre took the department to court, Eastern Cape High Court Judge Clive Plaskett ordered it to fill the vacant posts with teachers by November last year.

There were more than 7000 teacher vacancies, of which about 2000 were filled with temporary teachers, some of whom were not paid last year.

The Legal Resources Centre returned to court this year to ask it to appoint staff for 17 schools, arguing the department did not have the capacity to do so itself. But the department told the court it would hire staff by March 7.

This week, Ngonzo said a "complete collapse of labour relations" prevented theappointments.

The department is trying to move teachers from empty schools to overcrowded urban schools, but the provincial teachers union has blocked all attempts to do this.

Other admissions by Ngonzo include:

• "The department has been characterised by challenged leadership and governance for the past 16 years, with 13 heads of department, six MECs and multiple chief financial officers";

• There are poor or non-existent financial controls;

• "The department has never had appropriate or fully functional decision-making structures";

• It lacks information on how many teachers it employs and what their qualifications are; and

• The province has one head office and 23 district offices, 13 of which are dysfunctional.

In April, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said her department was pulling out of the province after "encouraging results" in the various bids to provide textbooks and school lunches, and hire and pay teachers.

The Legal Resources centre's regional director Sarah Sephton said: "The minister has indicated that her intervention has led to a turnaround of the provincial department of education, but the picture painted by Ngonzo is one of utter chaos. Clearly, the minister is not in touch with what is going on on the ground."

The Department of Education failed to comment.