OFFICE BASED EDUCATORS PAID HIGHER SALARIES, NOT BUDGETED FOR IN 2009/10

The Democratic Alliance has learnt with shock of higher salaries that were paid to office based educators in the Eastern Cape, without these costs being budgeted for in the 2009/10 financial year.

The DA has in its possession documentary proof that office based educators, namely Deputy Chief Education Specialists (DCES), Education Development Officers (EDO’s) and Senior Education Specialists (SES’s) were remunerated at a higher salary level, effective from 1 April 2009.

Unauthorised spending of R47,5 million was incurred, in salary adjustments for the 1043 office based educators for the financial year 2009/10. Trenchant criticism in the past has not prevented this Department of Education to fall foul of financial inequities, as clearly illustrated in this unfunded mandate.

The 462 DCE’s and EDO’s as per Persal were upgraded from salary level 10 to 11, i.e. from R328,152-00 to R362,664-00 per annum, with a difference of R34,512-00 as back pay effective from 1 April 2009.

The 581 SES’s on salary level 9 as per Persal, were upgraded to salary level 10, i.e. from R268,950-00 to R323,424-00 per annum, with a difference of R54,474-00 as back pay, effective from 1 April 2009.

EDO’s and DCES’s already on salary level 11 and SES’s on salary level 10 were not considered for any salary level adjustments. The implementation of these unfair labour practises has consequently resulted in dissent amongst those whose salaries have remained static.

The position of the Department of Public Service and Administration is that any employer has the prerogative to upgrade posts after thorough work studies have been done to support such upgrading. No work studies had however been done, instead the recommendations were benchmarked against work delivered by other provinces.

This unauthorized spending on salary adjustments, which was clearly not budgeted for, and of which work studies were not done to either support or reject a salary level adjustment, must be dismissed with the contempt it deserves.

This costing does not conform to the Public Administration Management and Occupational Specific Dispensation for educators.

The DA finds it abhorrent for the Department of Education to be inconsiderate of processes and policies. It will be enlightening to know, where these funds were sourced from.

Certain programmes, but not limited to the following were in one or the other affected, namely:

• Schools infrastructure programme grinded to an early halt in 2009.

• Grade 12 markers and marking centres not paid.

• Service providers, especially school stationary distributors, were not paid

• Non payment of temporary and substitute educators who started in January 2010

The above are only but a few of the ramifications emanating from unauthorised spending.

The DA does not oppose salary increases for office based educators, but it deplores the manner in which it was derived at. The DA also wants to caution the department to refrain from not adhering to procedures and policies in similar processes in the future.

For further information, please contact Edmund van Vuuren, MPL on 072 184 7840