"It seems like the Department of Education does not see our good work, but the principals do," said Thembisa Marawu, a frustrated Grade R teacher.
She is one of many Grade R and Abet teachers in the province who have gone for almost two months without being paid by the provincial education department.
"It seems like the Department of Education does not see our good work, but the principals do," said Thembisa Marawu, a frustrated Grade R teacher.
She is one of many Grade R and Abet teachers in the province who have gone for almost two months without being paid by the provincial education department.
"In March the department did not give us contracts as they normally do. Instead they gave us letters to sign and told us that the School Governing Bodies should pay us because we were not the employees of the department," said Marawu, who teaches at Siyazama Pre-school in Extension 6.
"Our SGBs did not have money to pay us, though. We did not get our salaries until earlier this month, and we were only paid for one month."
Marawu started teaching Grade Rs in 2005. Since 2009 she has been receiving monthly stipends from the Department of Education which were paid according to the one-year contracts that the department signed with all Grade R teachers in the province.
According to Marawu, the contracts were renewed in 2010, and the stipend was raised from R3 000 to R5 000. Another teacher, from Bathurst, who asked not to be identified, said she had not been paid since April.
Her school had paid her R 5 000 stipend, on the understanding she would repay the school once the department paid her.
"I do not understand why this is happening to us," the teacher said. "It is frustrating to sit and wait for when the department decides to pay us. It is unfair that they still have not yet told us anything about what is happening to our salaries. Some of us, including myself, are bread-winners in our families."
When Grocott's Mail asked provincial education department spokesperson Loyiso Pulumani about the delay in paying the teachers, he responded: "The information at my disposal suggest that payments for the categories [Grade R and Abet teachers] have been processed and payments will be included in the special run tomorrow [last Tuesday], so they should have their payments by Thursday."
By Thursday, however, Marawu said she had not received her pay.
