Western Cape education dept plans to fire 2 400 teachers, blames national govt budget cuts | News24

---

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) will cut around 2 400 teaching jobs in the province, due to severe budget shortfalls amounting to R3.8 billion. 

On Tuesday, department head Brent Walters informed schools in a circular that “the current number of educator posts in the Western Cape cannot be maintained”.

In the circular addressed to school principals, educators and school-based staff at public schools, Walters said they would receive their 2025 “basket of educator posts” on Friday.

“We have done everything we can to weather this storm for the past year and to protect our educators. We have frozen the recruitment of non-educator staff at head office and in our districts, with a current vacancy rate of 21%, and have cut down on spending across various directorates.”

Walters stressed that they had received only 64% of the cost of the wage agreement, with the remaining 36% to be funded by the province.

READ | KZN teachers stage sit-in protest to demand permanent employment

“The cumulative impact of the national fiscal emergency and under-funded cost of living adjustments are seriously impacting our continued operations and fiscal sustainability,” he added.

Education MEC David Maynier said they were doing everything possible to fight for their teachers, but added that they were being shortchanged by national government. He repeated Walters’ claim that the Western Cape had only received 64% of the cost of the nationally negotiated wage agreement, leaving the province to fund the remaining 36%.

This, he said, resulted in a massive budget shortfall of R3.8 billion.

“We have done everything we can to fight for our teachers by imposing budget cuts across the board, including on administration, curriculum and infrastructure. We have also frozen the recruitment of most public service staff, encouraged schools to convert contract appointments, and restricted the appointment of substitute teachers,” he added.

Maynier said despite implementing a drastic R2.5-billion budget cut, they still faced a R3.8-billion budget shortfall over the next three years.

‘Teachers are our greatest asset’

“To remain fiscally stable, we will have no choice but to reduce the basket of educator posts by approximately 2 400 posts in 2025,” he said.

“Teachers are our greatest asset, and reducing the number of teachers in our schools will negatively impact learning outcomes, so this is a decision that we have not taken lightly.”

Maynier said they would take the circumstances of schools into account when determining the allocation of teaching posts.

“This process is still underway, and the department is communicating with schools this week before they receive their staff post allocations for 2025.”

ALSO READ | Budget cuts force basic education dept to reduce number of bursaries for student teachers

He added that they had been engaging with teacher unions on the matter and hoped they would join the fight to save teacher jobs.

“We are doing everything we can to fight for our teachers, and have raised the matter at the Council of Education Ministers (CEM) for urgent action, because these budget shortfalls impact all the provinces,” he said.

He added:

Western Cape South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) secretary Sibongile Kwazi said the department had consulted with them earlier this month about job cuts, but the union had rejected the proposal. 

“We don’t believe that the employer applied their mind in making this decision,” she said.

Kwazi told News24 that Sadtu had suggested alternative methods to save teaching jobs. 

‘Reckless action’

She noted that permanently employed teachers could not retrenched, so the cuts would mainly affect teachers on contracts. 

Kwazi stressed that Sadtu advocated a progressive approach through the Education Labour Relations Council.

She said that if a teacher had held a contract position for three months in a vacant substantive post, and was qualified, their status should be converted to permanent. 

“Although we have many contract educators, most qualify for conversion,” Kwazi said.

READ MORE | Govt handing out bursaries to students to become teachers – but most struggle to get jobs

The ANC’s education spokesperson in the provincial legislature, Khalid Sayed, criticised the department’s decision to cut teaching posts, calling it outrageous and deserving of condemnation.

Sayed warned that this “reckless action” could further destabilise education in the province, particularly affecting schools in previously disadvantaged communities.

He noted that the ANC had raised these concerns earlier this year during a standing committee meeting on the department’s budget, but that department officials had dismissed them outright.

Sayed said it was confusing that while other provinces were also affected by the public wage agreement, only the Western Cape was implementing such drastic measures.