Hon Speaker, hon Ministers, hon members, from our side as the IFP, we welcome the intervention and we also think that the Minister has been very frank in analysing the challenges facing the education system in the Eastern Cape - challenges of capacity, challenges of poor management. All of these have led to implementation failures.
However, we think, hon Minister, there is a shortcoming in your statement, because it does not identify the likely causes of this incapacity and poor management. We would have appreciated it if the Minister had, whilst stating what the challenges were, hinted at the same time, what the causes could have been.
From our side, we just want to suggest, hon Minister, that we have a hard look at the policies that we apply there, particularly the redeployment policies - because teachers go through interviews on the basis of their professional qualifications; so then the question is: Why is there so much incapacity in the Eastern Cape if people are interviewed and employed on the basis of what they are capable of, other than being employed on the basis of the party they belong to? I think we have to look very closely at this.
We are pleased that the Minister has hinted at the possibility of tinkering with the labour laws to create a favourable environment for teaching. We welcome that, and we hope that will be implemented very soon. We thank you. [Applause.]