Unemployed teachers camp outside KwaZulu-Natal education department

Teachers from across KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) have been camping outside the provincial education department’s offices in Pietermaritzburg since last Monday. They are protesting to demand jobs.

The protest was organised by the KZN Unemployed Educators Movement (KZN UEM). The group began planning the protest through Facebook at the end of last year, said Nkosingiphile Xulu, the movement’s chairperson.

Since last week, the number of protestors has grown from 36 people to 120, said Xulu. The group also has a memorandum that they hope to hand over to the department.

Their demands include permanent jobs for unemployed teachers, for their NSFAS debt to be wiped, and for more transparency in the job application process.

The current application process is difficult. The teachers say their details are often deleted on the government’s online link.

They also complained of the lack of clarity on any updates about employment prospects, according to Vamisile Bhengu, another KZN UEM member.

Bhengu, who has been unemployed since getting her degree in foundational education seven years ago, said it is very difficult to find a job. If you go onto the government database and click on the job vacancies section, it’s almost always empty.

Gcinekile Khubisa, another qualified teacher who has been unemployed for seven years, said that the provincial department provides little to no assistance.

“When we go to schools with a CV, they tell us to go to the district department. The district tells us to go to the head office. And the head office tells us to go to the database.”

The group also wants the department to publish job adverts more frequently, said Xulu.

Despite camping outside their offices for almost a week, no department officials have engaged with the protestors or come out to accept their memorandum, said Xulu. The group plans to camp outside the building until their demands are met, she said.

Currently, the group takes shifts, with some members going home for supplies and others going around the town in search of food, said Xulu.

Questions were sent to the department’s head of communications, Muzi Mahlambi. None of the questions were answered by the time of publication.

• This article was written by Joseph Bracken for GroundUp, and has been republished with permission. Read the original here.