Hon Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, hon colleagues and members of the NCOP, we would like to express our warm gratitude for the opportunity to report to the NCOP on the steps that we have taken to address swiftly the challenges facing the Eastern Cape department of education. During engagements that we recently held with the provincial department, it became apparent that there were serious challenges in the capacity of the Eastern Cape department of education. This made it difficult for the provincial department to implement a turnaround strategy to overcome the challenges and to ensure that it would act in the best interests of learners from that province.
We further realised that all efforts aimed at bringing about a sustainable turnaround of provincial departments had to effectively address all the critical and underlying challenges and to really help in creating an enabling environment conducive for the efficient and effective delivery of educational services in the province. In view of the seriousness of the situation and at a critical time when we have committed and are hard at work to provide improved quality of basic education, it was resolved at the Cabinet meeting of 2 March 2011 that the Minister of Basic Education would assume responsibility for the areas in which the provincial department was struggling to meet minimum standards and norms of service delivery. Cabinet resolved that this should be done in terms of section 100(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996.
Amongst the most recent challenges in the Eastern Cape department of education are the following: overexpenditure of the budget for compensation of employees because the province could not and did not comply with the policies, norms and standards relating to the educator post provisioning. This problem has placed an enormous strain on the overall budget for education in the province, and has impacted on the province's overall budget and spending trends, including failure to provide textbooks and stationery to section 20 schools due to the poor management of the procurement process. Chairperson, you are probably aware of the distinction between section 21 and section 20 schools. Section 21 schools are entitled to purchase their own stationery and textbooks, whereas section 20 schools are provided for by the department.
The suspension of the scholar transport programme due to overspending and the termination of the school nutrition programme before the end of the financial year due to factors such as noncompliance with policy, poor management of the budget and poor supply chain management also occurred.
Chairperson, in terms of this particular aspect, the province, unlike other provinces, had decided to embark on a process where all schools - not only quintiles 1, 2 and 3 schools at primary school level - as well as all high schools, are fed. This has resulted in it becoming impossible for the province to be able to feed within the allocated budget.
The inability to effectively implement the school infrastructure development programme has resulted in funding earmarked for school infrastructure being returned to the National Treasury, even though the province is faced with serious infrastructural backlogs, amongst which I could raise with this House, Chairperson, the fact that we have some 400 mud schools in the province. Whereas we have eliminated these in most of the provinces - except for KwaZulu-Natal, which has about 5 - the Eastern Cape has 400 if not more mud schools, and many unsafe structures.
Since the Cabinet decision on 2 March 2011, the Minister and the Deputy Minister of Basic Education have consulted extensively with the leadership of the province and, in particular, with the premier and the MEC for education. All our discussions with the provincial leadership were conducted in a spirit of co-operation and support. The Department of Basic Education has appointed a technical team comprising senior officials under the leadership of the director-general to develop a problem analysis and draft an intervention plan. This was done working in collaboration with the senior counterparts in the Eastern Cape department of education.
The first draft of this plan was duly completed on 8 March 2011. Subsection 100(2)(a) of the Constitution requires that, when the national executive acts in terms of subsection 1(b), it must submit a notice of the intervention to the NCOP within 14 days of its first sitting after the intervention has begun. Accordingly, as required by the Constitution, a notice regarding this intervention was lodged on Tuesday, 15 March 2011, with the NCOP within the stipulated timeframe. The Council has a duty in terms of subsection 100(2)(b) to consider approving or disapproving the intervention. This should occur within 180 days of the intervention. In the event that the Council approves, it must review the intervention regularly and make any appropriate recommendations to the national executive. Should the Council disapprove, the intervention must then end. The intervention includes taking over the above-mentioned functions and working collaboratively with the Eastern Cape department of education to address the current challenges which I have referred to.
We intend to build the capacity in the province to allow the Eastern Cape education department to resume its functions as soon as possible. However, I might caution that the intention is to ensure that the intervention would be one where we would make a sustainable difference systemically within the department of education, so that we do not have a situation where we have entered, intervened and have left, and yet the problems haven't been adequately addressed. The Chairperson of the NCOP, the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education and the Chairperson of the Select Committee on Education and Recreation have been informed of this intervention.
Hon Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, in terms of the Rules of the NCOP, when an executive decision is taken to intervene in terms of section 100, a notice must be sent to the House by the Minister responsible for provincial affairs. The Acting Minister has indeed signed such a notice in addition to the notification from the Department of Basic Education. The relevant Minister, in terms of the Rules of the NCOP, has indeed delivered such a notice to the NCOP. The Cabinet decision of 2 March 2011 to invoke section 100(1)(b) of the Constitution was taken consciously to resolve the challenges in the Eastern Cape department of education, and to provide for the continued delivery of quality learning and teaching in the province. The ruling party has a responsibility to ensure that our clear goal of improved quality of basic education - the first, the pre-apex, the pre- eminent priority - is met across the country.
It is expressly for this reason that we have taken proactive steps better to strengthen the provision of education services in the Eastern Cape. I herewith formally notify the NCOP of the decision of the Cabinet with regard to the national intervention in the Eastern Cape education department, and trust that the NCOP will - as always - approve this timely and crucial intervention and duly support it. I thank you for your kind attention. [Applause.]
That concludes the Deputy Minister's statement. Hon members, we now come to the ... [Interjections.]
Chairperson, I just want to check if the Deputy Minister is prepared to take a question on what he has just presented.
Chairperson, this is not a debate. This was a statement by the Deputy Minister. You have heard and read it, and that is all.
Hon members, we are now going to continue with the list of speakers. The next person is going to be hon Rantho.
Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister ... [Interjections.]
Hon Rantho, can you just step down for a second.
Chairperson, I would advise that you clarify to the House who is supposed to speak and why those people will be speaking, because I don't think all members understand.
Hon members, a member of the executive may make a factual or policy statement relating to government policy, any executive action or other similar matter of which the Council should be informed. Following any executive statement, a member from each provincial delegation or, where applicable, a member of each of the parties may comment on the executive's statement. Thank you.
Chairperson, may I just assist in embellishing and perhaps elaborating on this matter. Given the fact that this is an intervention which has the effect of taking over powers that would be designated to a province, one would imagine that each delegation from each province would have an opportunity to speak to the intervention itself, because it deals specifically with a power of a province. It is for that reason that the Constitution provides that a notice must be provided to the NCOP, and that the NCOP, which is responsible for both provincial and local government and co-operative governance, would then basically have the right to make a recommendation with regard to the continuation or determination of such an intervention. I thought this might assist the hon members. Thank you very much.
Hon members, this matter is still going to go back to the committee that is still going to be deliberating on it and come up with a decision.
Chairperson, I just seek clarity, because I have the speakers' list in front of me with the speaker from each province for the debate today and it is tabled as a debate. I don't understand what you mean when you say it has to go back to the provinces. This is a debate with a speakers' list and the next speaker is hon Rantho.
Okay, thank you.
Chairperson, after the Minister has spoken, each leader of a delegation is allowed three minutes and that is what is known as a declaration. That is exactly what is happening now and the member knows that very well.
Thank you very much, Deputy Chairperson. I just want to confirm that Cope understands it very well. That is the procedure. Thank you very much. [Laughter.]
Thank you, hon Bloem. Sorry for that disturbance, hon Rantho. You may continue.
Deputy Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister, I would like to welcome the statement and the remarks made by the hon Minister Angie Motshekga regarding the renewal and the revival plan for the Department of Education in the Eastern Cape province. We are indeed happy that the Minister has invoked a section 100 intervention with a clear plan that makes practical and purposeful proposals to resolve the problems of the Eastern Cape department of education. Hon Deputy Chairperson, we welcome the statement of the Minister because, as representatives of the Eastern Cape province, we are aware and very much concerned about challenges facing the provincial department of education. We are aware that teaching and learning in the province could not start when the schools opened early this year due to these problems, including the termination of temporary teachers, which posed serious challenges to teaching and learning; displaced teachers, lack of infrastructure, and the suspension of scholar transport and the nutrition programme.
Hon Deputy Chairperson, this intervention by the Minister is mostly welcomed because we know that the ANC has made it clear that education is not only pivotal to economic prosperity in South Africa, but also plays a crucial role in enabling the country to improve the quality of life of our people. We say this because this intervention by the Minister sends a clear message that, as the ANC government, we take the delivery of quality services to our people very seriously.
We also welcome the intervention of the Minister because it expresses a clear message of hope to the people of the Eastern Cape province that the ANC government shall not fold its arms when any institution or structure of government that is charged with the important national duty of changing the lives of our people slumbers or shows utter disregard for this national duty.
The intervention by the Minister is also an expression that education remains the fundamental vehicle of transforming South Africa from a past characterised by inequality, separate development and racial discrimination. It is a clear message that we regard education as an important component in the successful implementation of our national vision to afford our people an opportunity to break the cycle of generation poverty.
Finally, Deputy Minister, we want to reassure the Minister that the Eastern Cape province has many men and women who have dedicated their lives to ensuring that the people of the Eastern Cape also enjoy quality education; and that our system of education is improved and our children in the province, especially those from poor families, do benefit from the opportunities of our democracy. We want to reassure you, hon Deputy Minister and Minister, that you have our support in turning the tide in the Eastern Cape department of education. I thank you. [Applause.]
Deputy Chairperson, I rise to pronounce that the Limpopo delegation supports the intervention by the Department of Basic Education in accordance with section 100(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996, to take over the function of the department of education in the Eastern Cape, with reasons given by the Deputy Minister in his statement; and also the fact that the ruling party, the ANC, in its Polokwane 2007 conference resolved to elevate education to a national priority.
Vho Minister vho tou dadamala hone-hone hune sa vun?u ?a Limpopo, ra pfa ri tshi ?igikhinya khana. Hezwi ri a zwi kho?a. Musi hu tshi pfi u shuma, hu vha hu tshi khou ambiwa zwenezwi. Ndi zwine ANC ya to?a u vhona zwi tshi khou itea musi i tshi vhea vhathu kha maimo mishumoni. Vha tou kanda vhukuma kha yeneyi gere ye vha fara yone, ndi hone zwi tshi ?o fusha rine vhane ra vha na maan?a muvhusoni. Ndi a livhuwa. (Translation of Tshivenda paragraph follows.)
[The Minister has touched on what we, as the province of Limpopo, feel proud of. We appreciate this. This is called to work. This is what the ANC wants to see happening when it deploys people to positions. You should accelerate well in this gear you are in as this will satisfy us, the people who have power in government. I thank you.]
Deputy Chairperson, allow me to welcome the statement by the Deputy Minister and express the full support of the Northern Cape delegation for the intervention invoked by the Minister of Basic Education to address the challenges facing the Eastern Cape department of education.
We express our support for the statement and intervention because we are aware that our nation has a formidable task to use education to afford our people a chance to change their lives for the better.
As the National Council of Provinces, we would like to say that we were aware and indeed concerned that the conditions facing the department of education in the Eastern Cape were steadily worsening and becoming unbearable for many learners who had to endure the harsh conditions of dilapidated and unsafe structures; the difficulty of walking hundreds of kilometres to schools; and the sad reality of enduring the day without anything to eat.
Allow me to borrow words of wisdom from the great son of Africa and stalwart of our people, Isithwalandwe Nelson Mandela, who said:
Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor; that a son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine; that a child of a farmworker can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.
The great words of our former President bear testimony to our commitment and move decisively to break all barriers to ensure that our nation has an effective and efficient education system. They give expression to our historic resolve to use education to empower our people to break the umbilical cord of the repressive conditions fuelled by our divided past.
When the architects of our democracy wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution, they made a formidable declaration by giving our people a promissory note that assured them about our alienable right to education. We made this promise conscious of the fact that our education system suffered most under the repressive and discriminatory apartheid system. The lack of proper education facilities and resources along with apartheid's devastating effect on our social fabric had created a crisis in education and training of immerse proportions.
We welcome the statement and intervention by the Minister. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Hon Deputy Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister, and members, today the NCOP is to approve the section 100 intervention by the national Minister in the Eastern Cape department of basic education. Over the past years there have been four interventions by the national Department of Education and the provincial administration of the department of basic education; and now the Minister is requesting this Council to approve her planned administration of this provincial department.
The Minister must tell us what new plans she has to improve the current situation, as we have seen too many turnaround strategies and plans that had no effect. The previous superintendent-general said that the department of basic education in the Eastern Cape was rotten to the core and was without a financial or human resources plan.
There was poor administration, there was no sound management of the procurement processes, and 90% of the officials are trading with the department. This department is corrupt and there is moral decay. At the end of 2010, the previous superintendent-general said that it was, in fact, rotten to the core. This is what has to change. The only way in which the hon Minister can turn the department around is by firing the cadres and prosecuting the fraudsters. We should make sure that they get blacklisted from future trading with the government.
A fresh start is required - a clean slate with qualified people who can now effectively manage and rebuild the department. The extent of the damage to our 2 million scholars in the Eastern Cape is horrific. The reasons for the intervention by the hon Minister are clear and just. We agree on those points.
The capital projects are not managed properly and R746 million was not used in this financial year. We need more schools other than the seven mud schools that you are going to replace. I beg you to build the high school in Jeffreys Bay and then we can stop transporting about 800 scholars to Humansdorp every day. Look at the opportunity cost of daily scholar transport, departmental and private, against the cost of building a high school.
The budget allocation in the Eastern Cape budget debate last Friday, does not talk of financial aid or bailout. Obviously it is understood that the department needs proper management. You have to take leadership and make tough decisions to clean-up the Eastern Cape department of basic education.
Only when you decide to stand alone, but firm, against the evils of cadre deployment will this intervention be an improvement on those of your predecessors. This department must be rebuilt and not taken over for a short period of time.
You have the future of the Eastern Cape in your hands. Two million scholars will be our leaders tomorrow. Education is the foundation of opportunities and dreams of millions of our learners are in the balance. I thank you. [Applause.]
Chair, and hon Deputy Minister, the Free State province wholeheartedly, unashamedly and unconditionally supports measures you have taken to address educational problems as experienced in the Eastern Cape. We cannot abrogate or shy away from our responsibility in ensuring that every child in any corner of our country gets quality education along with all the other children in South Africa. It was a necessary and a strategic move, which reminds us that South Africa is a unitary state. Intellectuals always say that theory and practice complement each other. We want to thank you for making our Constitution a living document. You have made the theoretical expression in our Constitution into reality.
I want to say to Mr Beyleveldt that in the statement that you have been given, as delivered by the Minister, there is nothing which says corruption. The ANC-led government does not need to be lectured by the opposition parties, because we can correct our mistakes. I think these are the measures that we have taken to correct ourselves. I thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, the North West province welcomes the notice of the Ministry of Basic Education to invoke section 100 of the Constitution in the department of education in the Eastern Cape province. We also welcome the steps taken by the Ministry to swiftly address the challenges facing the Eastern Cape department of education. This is indeed a clear message that shows that we take delivery of quality services to our people very seriously. We will not allow a season of slack behaviour to gain momentum and destruct the ANC government's agenda to dismantle the legacy of apartheid education in our communities.
The statement by the Deputy Minister sends a clear message to the officials in the Eastern Cape province that the season and the honeymoon of slack behaviour are over. They need to reinvigorate their energies to turn the tide against poor administration, and rededicate their efforts towards creating a conducive environment for the efficient and effective delivery of educational services in the province. The intervention by the Ministry sends a clear message that the purpose of dismantling the apartheid and homeland education system remains bolder and ever more resolute. We shall continue to move with absolute speed and tenacity to dismantle all the obstacles that threaten our education transformation agenda in the Eastern Cape province.
We say this, because, as the ANC, we have made a commitment that says the centenary of our movement must find us in a state where we are truly able to say with absolute certainty that, since democracy dawned on South Africa, we have indeed reached the threshold of prosperity for all in our advance to improve the lives of our people.
As the North West province, we believe that the statement of the Minister of Basic Education is the true expression of this commitment. Most importantly, it clearly articulates the ANC commitment to move with speed in removing all obstacles in our quest to redress the legacy of apartheid education and the systematic neglect of the educational needs of our people.
We know that there are those who, just like the DA, will unashamedly stand before our nation and on this pulpit to seek to mislead our people because of their selfish agenda to create a separate state, when our nation has resolved to dismantle all the artificial boundaries and build a united South Africa. We want to make it clear that there is one country and one government. As the ANC we have an overwhelming mandate from our people to usher in a new dawn of hope and drive an agenda of change and development in our communities. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
House Chair, in line with the ANC manifesto and government's decision to make education an Apex Priority, Gauteng welcomes the decisive and bold step the Cabinet took by intervening in the Eastern Cape education department in its endeavour to build capacity and strengthen the Education department. The President in his state of the nation address stated that:
We have directed the Special Investigating Unit to probe alleged maladministration or corruption in various government departments, municipalities and institutions. While not prejudging the investigations, they prove our resolve to combat corruption at all levels of government and Public Service.
So, this intervention is one of the many that will happen to prove that the ANC-led government is serious about strengthening co-operative governance within the three spheres of government in any province, including this one. Without fear or favour, Gauteng supports the statement. I thank you. [Applause.]
House Chairperson, KwaZulu-Natal stands to support the statement as read and deliberated on before the NCOP by the Deputy Minister on behalf of the Minister of Basic Education. We are doing so, Chairperson, for we understand it's done within the spirit of co-operative governance and the spirit of intergovernmental relations and that everyone was taken on board in coming to the decision. The decision itself seeks to constructively assist in facilitating the service delivery of quality education to the people of the Eastern Cape.
We further acknowledge, Chair, that despite these problems, the education process in the Eastern Cape did produce and deliver to the children of the Eastern Cape - we have seen the improvement in the results. This indicates that despite the problems and few elements that might have been involved in being part of the obstacle to higher service delivery levels, there are people who are committed.
We wish to thank those that, despite all of these problems, did their work as citizens of South Africa, committed to the education of the child that lives in the Eastern Cape.
We also express our support as this is done in recognition that South Africa is a unitary state. We are all responsible for the citizens of the Republic that we are all proud of. Thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]
Chairperson, it is an honour to be afforded an opportunity to speak on a decision to advance the agenda of ensuring that today is better than yesterday, and tomorrow is a guaranteed dawn of a bright future whereby the future generations will be proud of this leadership by the hon Minister of Basic Education and the Ministry itself under the leadership of the ANC government.
It regards education as one of the vital elements of its progress in dealing with the legacy of unequal distribution of resources. This says to me that when the Western Cape talks about mud houses, or building schools to replace only seven mud houses, we must remember where we come from. In 17 years, we wouldn't have been able - if we didn't act decisively - to address the atrocities of 400 years of apartheid. [Interjections.]
Four hundred years? [Laughter.]
The neglecting of our rural young blacks is the reason today. The ANC has got time and strategies; it does not just rebuild, but it rebuilt it piece by piece because it is very careful of its strategies and how they are carried out. [Interjections.]
Without saying you were teaching in Mpumalanga?
As the ANC, we don't act impulsively and say that because there are no toilets, let's just build them without the shelter. We continue to do something that is very good. [Interjections.]
Why don't you pay attention to Mpumalanga?
Concerning administration? Are you saying that this department has already been given to administration? I come from Mpumalanga. You were probably waiting for Mpumalanga to say that there are exam leaks and so on but, because this department knows how to intervene, that has not happened. [Applause.]
The intervention by the Ministry of Basic Education clearly shows that our national efforts to improve our people's access to quality education systems are noble and unshakable. This reaffirms our commitment to transform the education system in South Africa and break all challenges that hinder our people's access to quality education and teaching in our schools. As Mpumalanga, we therefore understand and share the seriousness with which the Ministry views the suspension of scholar transport programmes and all others.
Ukuba uthatha ukudla kwabantwana, abantwana bethu belamba, baye esikolweni iingqondo zidiniwe. [If you take away children's food, when our children are starving, they go to school being mentally drained.]
Nabotitjhere bayalamba. [And teachers too are starving.]
We cannot sit and say we must start to rebuild the department, whereas we can do something to assist those children to go to school and get the proper nutrition they need. [Interjections.]
In conclusion, South Africa is a unitary state. Therefore, the failure of a province or department in executing its mandate in totality reflects the failure of the government as a whole. The ANC-led government will never allow or tolerate anyone or any department to undermine our values as enshrined in the Freedom Charter and put into practice by our Constitution. The pessimists that always criticise when we do well must remember that we work in principle. We support this statement. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Chairperson, on a point of order: Is it parliamentary for the hon member to mislead the House? The hon member referred to 400 years of the apartheid government and to my knowledge the National Party only came into power in 1948.
Hon member, you should have asked that question whilst she was on the floor. Now, the debate is over. [Interjections.]