Last week members of the Eastern Cape Unemployed and Resigned Educators Movement, in Mthatha, handed over a petition to the King Sabatha Dalindyebo Local Municipality’s member of the mayoral committee (MMC) in the special programmes unit (SPU), Councillor Noluyolo Mayi, who promised to send it to the Premier of the Eastern Cape, Oscar Mabuyane.
The founder and the chairperson of this movement, Ayanda Dlani, said they had handed over their petition with the aim of asking Mabuyane to intervene in their situation.
Dlani said that some of their grievances were that the Department of Education does not issue bulletins.
Members of the movement see vacant posts being closed, yet the posts are not advertised.
Dlani said that he had resigned as a teacher but was now willing to come back to serve the department again.
“I am not employed because even the database that is used by the department is useless. Teachers who had registered on it are not recognised. Instead the principals look for their own teachers,” said Dlani.
He added that they were hosting this march with the unemployed teachers who also feel the pain of not working. Dlani said they had given Mabuyane 12 days to respond to their grievances, stating that if there was no response, they would shut down the KD Matanzima and Botha Sigcau Building until they get what they want.
One of the unemployed teachers, Thandeka Caciso (41), said she graduated in 2019, but until now she had not got a job from the Department of Education.
Caciso said she submits her documents every year to be put on the database, but nothing is happening.
“Even now I depend on the social grant of one child in order to survive,” said Caciso. She added that she also sells sweets to add to the social grant she is receiving from the department.
She said children in her area were very demotivated because they see graduates, like her, struggling to find work.
Caciso said life is very hard for her, as she needs to support her child, who is at university.
“I used to have a spaza shop before; when someone came carrying R5, I would put it in an empty bottle; when it was full, I would go and pay fees of my Tertiary Institution. I only received the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) when I was doing third year. Even today I am still struggling, and it is very painful.”
Caciso added that she had not been called to a single interview ever since she graduated in 2019. “I even go door-to-door but still no luck,” she added.
