Yes, thank you, Speaker. Hon President, there seems to be a disjuncture between what this House is receiving in terms of information and undertakings, also from your office, and what is really happening at grass-roots level in the Eastern Cape.
As I stand here today, those temporary teachers have not been appointed. Five thousand teacher vacancies still exist. The education system is nearing the end of its first term. We lost seven million teaching hours during the Cosatu strike action, or go-slow action, and the issue here is: Does the Minister of Basic Education really have your full support for her intervention? She wanted to move in to clean out the education department, to remove the director-general, to have the teachers appointed, to provide the textbooks, but she was stopped short.
The National Planning Commission indicates that the co-operation of teacher unions is a key component of turning the education system around. How will you ensure that we take the necessary steps to get Cosatu and everybody on board, including the director-general of education for the Eastern Cape and the Eastern Cape ANC structure, so that we can attend to the critical shortage of teachers in that province? Thank you. [Time expired.] [Interjections.]