Speaker 1:

This is Bisho, the capital of the Eastern Cape. It's a huge province. With Bisho situated in the South-East, the vast distances to it's furthest regions make it a difficult province to administer. Education in particular has suffered, rural schools are ill equipped and teachers morale is low. The Education Department stand accused of being corrupt and inept, with little regard for people. The man in charge of Eastern Cape education is Stone Sizani, as MEC, the buck stops with him.

Two years ago he appointed a consultant from the Limpopo province, as Superintendent General of Education in the Eastern Cape. Modidima Mannya's brief was simple, sort out a corrupt and inefficient department, but his tenure was short-lived. Within weeks, he claimed to have uncovered widespread management irregularities. He suspended several senior managers, some highly connected, then he began receiving death threats. After a turbulent three months, he fled the province.

Now, the task of turning around education in the Eastern Cape, rests with acting Superintendent General, PG Xokweni, and Deputy Director General Ewan Harris, accompanying them communications spokesperson Papama Mfenyana. They have their work cut out for them.

Ewan Harris:

When you have a very huge department with more than 6,400 schools, 74,000 employees, as I told you, spread over a huge distance, perhaps from one point to the other, will take you eight hours to drive, if not more. It's a very dispersed situation where schools that are in urban areas tend to be rich, and as you've seen probably in your visits across the country, you'd have seen schools in shocking states.

Speaker 1:

Winnie Mazwe is acting principal at a school near Matitiele. Although the town is in Kwa Zulu Natal, her school lies in the Eastern Cape. The nearest regional office is in Kokstad.

Speaker 3:

Morning learners.

Learners:

Good morning [Pasitetas].

Speaker 1:

She's lost faith in the Education Department. The community built this school and relies on donations for equipment.

Winnie Mazwe:

What type of fruit is this one? Huh, yes?

Learner:

Apple.

Winnie Mazwe:

And apple, class.

Learners:

An apple.

Speaker 1:

Pupils are still waiting for the department to deliver this years' text books.

Winnie Mazwe:

If we want to get some more textbooks, we go to other schools and ask, and beg them to give us the books. And the learners are suffering to this school, and it's a very, very, very big disaster [inaudible], this school is too bad. I move up and down, and write some letters, and they take these letters. And they told me they are taking the letters to the regional office Kokstad, from Kokstad to Bisho. I don't know where is the process now. It's very, very, very bad. They are depressing us.

Speaker 1:

Also affecting her morale, is the fact that she hasn't received money owed to her by the department. Teachers are entitled to an upgrade if they improve their qualifications. Winnie Mazwe got a degree and did a management diploma, but hasn't been upgraded.

Winnie Mazwe:

I don't know what kind of a department is this, I don't know. And we always talking with our SADTU, our union, our SADTU members, there in the offices, and they told us they take our grievances to the department and they have no ... they get no response for us.

Speaker 1:

Percy Ulbrecht and Mne Ndongeni represent the South African Democratic Teachers Union in this North-Eastern Cape region. SADTU is the largest teachers union in the country, and once had a good relationship with government. Now, it's officials say they are reaching the end of their tether.

Speaker 4:

You see.

Speaker 5:

Joh.

Speaker 1:

Days are spent sorting out payment issues. SA Bisho appears to have no accurate record of educators and their finances in this region.

Speaker 5:

Teachers are frustrated, they're beginning even to lose hope to us, because we take this thing to the department, we raise with these things in the meetings, they say they will address these things. Promise with a certain timeframe, nothing happens. Instead, things become worse.

Speaker 4:

If 30% of stationary and text books have been delivered, then it is a miracle.

Speaker 5:

With this tendency we have a perception that nobody cares about this area. People are comfortable with their revolving chairs in Bisho, they don't mind about what is taking place in our areas.

Speaker 1:

Some teachers in this region have been awaiting outstanding payments for three years. Evelyn Maqaliqa lives in the village of Nkaus, close to the Lesotho border. She was appointed as a substitute in 1999 when a teacher took ill, but she was never paid. The following year the position was still vacant, so she applied for a permanent post. She's now teaching in that post, but she's not getting paid.

Evelyn Mqaliqa:

I'm working for nothing, because I don't get any money. I'm working, teaching all these kids but getting nothing.

Speaker 1:

Why do you do it?

Evelyn Mqaliqa:

It's because I can see that children are suffering. There is a shortage of teachers here, then I see to me that is better to help the learners so that they can have their bright future. It's my right, because I have worked for that money, I want it. And even if I've got some means, I would have gone there and tell them, "Bring back my money, I've worked for that money."

Speaker 1:

Her village is high in the hills, three hours drive from Kokstad, eight hours from Bisho. Money is tight here. One person's salary can feed an extended family. Her substitute teaching cheque apparently lay at the Kokstad regional office for months, no-one informed her that it had finally arrived. It was sent back to Bisho. Two years ago she was told her permanent employment papers were being processed.

Evelyn Mqaliqa:

But to even today I haven't got it.

Speaker 6:

Do you still remember the approval that we received about your employment?

Evelyn Mqaliqa:

Yes Ma'am.

Speaker 6:

Good. Do you stil remember myself signing the assumption of duty form for you?

Evelyn Mqaliqa:

Yes, Ma'am.

Speaker 6:

Do you still remember the letters of a follow up that I tried to write for you?

Evelyn Mqaliqa:

Yes, Ma'am.

Speaker 1:

She's not the only staff member with a problem. The principal says her teachers constantly battle to get even the smallest amounts due to them.

Speaker 7:

I made some follow ups to Kokstad, go and check my documents. I meet a lady there Nomqobo Ngongwana, and she said, "I will send your particulars to Bisho." Until now, she's saying, "I will send your particulars to Bisho", but nothing has happened.

Speaker 5:

Last week Thursday they told us in one meeting, that they lost all the documents that were submitted in 1999 and 2000. So, teachers who submitted for adjustments and all these things in '99 and 2000, they must resubmit again. And nobody's ... These ones, they are saying, "No, those in Bisho must write, because they don't know what things was lost. They must write and indicate that these were lost." The Bisho people are not prepared to write, and these ones are not prepared, and whose caught in between the process? Teachers are suffering. You have all ... They was been making all the submissions, if you can read these things yourself as a person, you feel with the heart. You can cry if you can hear the stories that are here.

Speaker 1:

Dealing with Bisho from a distance, can be a frustrating experience.

Mne Ndongeni:

Now, the office phone is ringing, nobody's picking it up.

Hello, Mr. Mlangozi, it's Ndongeni from Kokstad here. I wonder if you can be able to phone me back. I'm getting frustrated now, on the same matter that I spoke with you some time ago concerning Miss. Nomganga, the lady whose salary from March 20th was deposited in a closed account, which you had indicated that you had sorted that one out. But, at the end of the month that lady could not get the money, up until now.

Speaker 1:

The Department of Education in Bisho blames payment delays on the provinces finance department.

Ewan Harris:

For these people to have been paid, it goes to another department for authorization. Some of these cases have been outstanding since 1999. It's shocking, not because education's not doing its work, because somewhere down the line a combination of Education and the other departments that are supposed to authorise these particular transactions were never authorised.

Speaker 1:

On almost every working day Mne Ndongeni takes himself off to the Eastern Cape's regional Department of Education in Kokstad. In January, six officials were suspended from this office for corruption. They apparently redirected money from teachers salaries into their own accounts. The teachers haven't been reimbursed.

Mne Ndongeni:

There's these three teachers whose money was stolen last year in October. The Departmental officials in Bisho took all their particulars, took all the documents that are needed in order for the teacher to be paid if you didn't get the amount. Affidavits and everything. I can mention names. They took Affidavits from here and they left with them for Bisho, up until today those teachers have not received their monies.

Speaker 4:

Our members are coming forward and they're also highlighting that there's discrepancies in the amounts that is reflected on their salary slips, as compared to what is being deposited into the bank. So obviously, this corruption is still continuing. I don't think the head of the monster has actually been crushed.

Speaker 1:

Bisho says steps are being taken to combat corruption.

Ewan Harris:

I don't want to say too much in this particular interview, but if they change an account number today, I know literally within hours on my desk. That is how sophisticated our systems are here now to track fraud.

Speaker 1:

And it's happening?

Ewan Harris:

Oh yes, absolutely it's happening. We know exactly how many cases happened last month. We know which cases, where it happened, we know who changed the transactions.

Speaker 1:

It would help matters if teachers received their salary slips every month, then they'd be able to keep track of deductions which are often erratic.

Speaker 5:

People don't understand, they will say you are getting the money, why do you bother about the salary advice? But, what happens with department where you find yourself that you were on a medical aid scheme, and then all of a sudden you have been withdrawn from a medical aid scheme, you don't know that because your salary advice is not there. The month goes, the second one goes, the third one goes, you don't get a salary advice to advise you that these are the things that are still deducted on your salary advice. On the fourth month your child or yourself, you get sick, you go to the hospital. When you're supposed to pay the fees in the hospital, you only find that you are no longer a member of that medical aid.

Ewan Harris:

I acknowledge that, yes, there has been a problem about them getting the particular slips. But, in terms of the plan of action of dealing with it, dealing with it comprehensively so that it never happens again. In terms of our list of priorities, it's really only in four months time that problem will be solved totally.

Speaker 1:

SADTU says those in charge of the Education Department are laughable. Union officials constantly compare them to their predecessor, the much talked about Modidima Mannya.

Speaker 4:

They are in their jobs longer than what Mannya was, but in terms of delivery, we thought at least they would say, "New brooms would sweep clean", and you'd start first of all, salary advices would be on time. Salaries will be paid and there will be a dent being made in this backlog." But it seems as though it's back to what we call, "normal".

Speaker 1:

Mannya fled the Education Department and the province more than a year ago, despite this, his name still means a lot.

Speaker 5:

It was only after Mannya came in that we felt that the issues that affected us are being taken up seriously by the Department.

Winnie Mazwe:

Mannya was very, very good. He was a gentleman, and we can be very happy if he can come back again.

Speaker 4:

Ever since Mannya left, the morale of the communities has actually gone down.

Speaker 1:

Educations new Directors say, the only reason Mannya's name lives on is because he constantly blew his own trumpet.

Ewan Harris:

There are different management styles. Our particular style is not to be noisy, Seagull style of management, and our style is simply just to put in systems and get the job done, and improve the quality of teaching and learning. So, we could have gone on, and we could have made ... called in the media on every little issue, and made a big deal out of it. I prefer, and the management prefer that we just solve all the problems. And at the end of the day we want to just win the Premier's award for excellence. That's what we're going for.

Speaker 1:

70-year-old Casey Madwaba, lives in the shadow of the Kiba Stone in the Herchel district of the Eastern Cape. She began teaching in 1954 and retired several years ago. Teaching, she says, was here life.

Casey Madwaba:

Very much, joh. And my children even now, they know when they see me they imitate me. And they will call me even now, those that I taught, "hey, hey, hey, hey, hey." [inaudible] was Jo'burg. I was a teacher in the heart.

Speaker 1:

But she hasn't managed to access her final reward from the Department of Education. Her pension, a fund she'd been contributing to all her working life.

Casey Madwaba:

I went personally there, and when I got there, they checked for files and files of books. Then they checked and checked, and they say that they do not see my name, then I left. After a while I asked them, how far are they, and they said they found Ndwaba. When I wrote to them, they did not respond. Up to now when I phone and ask that one, no response. Not a cent from the Government. Huh-uh, not nice.

Speaker 1:

She's not the only one. Today she and some friends, also former teachers, are meeting with union officials for the umpteenth time to discuss the whereabouts of their pensions. In the absence of good news from Bisho, SADTU officials take them out to lunch in Sterkspruit, the nearest town. SADTU says there are many other pensioners in this district who haven't been paid by the Education Department.

Speaker 8:

That's the kind of situation that you get here in the Eastern Cape, almost daily. There is a lot of teachers here for instance in the Eastern Cape, a hundred and some odds of pensioners only, case of pensioners, who have not received their gratuities. You name them, you see a lot here in the Eastern Cape. And just the last Saturday we buried one teacher here, a Miss November. She has never received a cent from this Department. That's the situation that we are sitting with here.

Speaker 9:

You know, if you die in the Eastern Cape, the implication is, your benefits are buried with you. Your dependents gain nothing, totally nothing.

Ewan Harris:

The actual payments of pensions are not done the Department of Education, or any Department, it's done by a National Department, okay? But, they can only do it if we submit them with the documentation in the order they want it again. And so, it's identifying where those loopholes have come in. But, yes, I'm not pleased the way that some pensioners were treated after serving the Department for 40 years.

Speaker 1:

Staff in regional offices say it's not surprising, because documentation is in complete disarray. They say it's a nightmare trying to process applications. This is the registry where teachers records are kept, it's often impossible to find details of leave, bonuses and resignations. No-one seems to know where anything is.

Speaker 10:

It's not surprising at all, because you can see the conditions we're working under. They are very chaotic, so there's no production here, because we are short staffed here. We don't have registry clerks. These files are to be taken to the registry clerk, there's no-one to take them to the registry because we don't have registry clerks.

Speaker 11:

We are understaffed, no equipment, we are nine in the office and using one computer. Nine in the office. [Foreign language]. Three one desk. [Foreign language].

Speaker 12:

Ja, it's chaos. They expect good work, they expect it pro-election, when can you get production right in the first one. You can't, you know.

Speaker 1:

Bisho says only a few of its regions are experiencing problems, and that it's moving swiftly to sort them out.

Speaker 13:

I want to indicate to you that a team from Bisho, led by us will be in Kokstad tomorrow.

Ewan Harris:

Tomorrow.

Speaker 13:

Ja.

Speaker 1:

But, a week after their visit to Kokstad, staff were as gloomy as ever.

Speaker 14:

They said to us to that they're going to ask some questions to some consultants at the head office, give back our depart ... Even now, it's Friday tomorrow, we didn't receive any report coming from them.

Speaker 15:

Because every time they are here, we are telling them our problem. Every time, every time, even last week they were here.

Speaker 1:

SADTUA regional officials say this never happened when Mannya was in charge.

Speaker 8:

Since Mannya was here around about three to two months, and in that space of time he managed to clear the backlog. And our calls here is not Mannya the man, you see, it's Mannya the calibre of the person that we want. Even if you put any person there, but the calibre of the person must be able to deal with these issues.

Speaker 5:

We were told that Mannya was not the only person, he was working with a collective of men and women, good men and women in the province in Bisho, and he was not alone in this thing. So, if he is away, it doesn't mean that is the end of the story. Now, we want to see where are these good men and women that we told of when Mannya left in the province.

Speaker 1:

Mannya now lives in Johannesburg. His life is nothing to do with Education anymore, but he still receives phone calls from teachers in the Eastern Cape, and he's flattered that people who never even met him, felt his presence.

Speaker 16:

But it gives you great comfort. I mean, you really feel comfortable that there are people who really valued the little contribution that you made. But, it also emphasises it affects people emotionally when they don't get paid. Maybe under the Homeland system, ja, people could spend this whole time not getting paid, but if you look at the actual implications, social, economic and others of that person whose not ... that one person, it's a serious matter. It is quite serious an issue.

Speaker 1:

These days Mannya can be found helping in his wife's pharmacy. He still even remembers the names of the teachers he was unable to help, because his contract was cut short. He says all he did in the Eastern Cape, was to make himself accessible to people and their problems, not a Government policy.

Speaker 16:

When people become inaccessible, when people continue to be confused about, "What do I need to do to get my pension or ..." that on its own, doesn't matter how small you might think that is, that shows you that policy might not necessarily be finding a full scale application.

Speaker 1:

Officials in Bisho say Mannya merely gave the impression that he was efficient.

Speaker 13:

It's difficult for a person to come today and say, "Everything is wrong", and tomorrow you say, "I have sorted out everything" and you leave the other day, everything is wrong.

Speaker 1:

Mannya has exchanged the bureaucracy of Bisho for the Highrise of Johannesburg, and he doesn't really want to talk much about those days, because he's suing the Eastern Cape Premier and the MEC of Education for Defamation of Character. He believes they should be more accountable.

Speaker 16:

When I started in the Eastern Cape my salary was paid in the first month. My salary was paid in the first month. And I asked the question, "Is there any reason why other people's salaries are not paid in the first month?" Whether no action should be taken against anybody when teachers don't get paid when they're supposed to get paid. When pensioners don't get paid. I mean certainly, there must be a basis for somebody ... Somebody must take responsibility for that ordinarily.

Speaker 1:

Bisho's Education Directors say they are on top of the problem.

Ewan Harris:

There is a provincial initiative by the Director General of the province, and it's called GTRS, it stands for Get The Record Straight, in an intensive process to get the files ready of everybody.

Speaker 1:

But far away in Kokstad, Mne Ndongeni is still getting complaints from teachers who haven't been paid, and he still spends hours on the phone to Bisho.

Mne Ndongeni:

Ai, you can think it's an exageration. You phone the whole day, the phone is ringing. Nobody ever takes the phone. Sorry. SADTU, good morning.