IOL reports that according to the National Teachers Union (Natu), Grade R teachers in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) have not been paid their stipends, but they were still expected to turn up for work every morning.

The union said it was concerned about the situation and described the non-payment as “unacceptable”. Natu’s acting president Sibusiso Malinga said the teachers were meant to have been paid at the end of April, but this did not happen. Malinga lamented that the non-payment of the stipends undermined the teachers’ rights as workers and left them helpless. The union called on the Department of Education to take responsibility and pay the teachers in the same way that it paid other departmental officials on time. “It is a shame on the departmental officials who always get their full salaries at the end of each month, support their families and service their debts,” Natu observed. The Department of Education in KZN said the matter was being attended to. Spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi indicated: “The main cause for this is the annual resumption of the Grade R educators which is something that is being discussed to have an alternative way of having a seamless process. The delayed payments are regrettable and it something that the department together with unions should address to have a long solution on the matter”.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sisipho Bhuta at IOL

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