Dept points finger at unpaid teachers

involved in the submission of the required documents for annual contract renewal.

“Every year, representatives of the provincial ECD unit embark on a roadshow to all districts.

“The aim of the roadshow is to engage with the principals, SGBs, community-based site managers and all practitioners on the processes and requirements for the extension of the Grade R contracts for the following year.

Van der Merwe said that during these roadshows all the required documentation necessary to process registration and payment was explained in great detail to all stakeholders.

According to Van der Merwe, the engagements were done in order to curb problems such as non-payment.

“These engagements were done time- ously to ensure that there were no delays in the payment of practitioners for January 2017. The contracts are renewed annually and this has been the practice for the past five years. All stakeholders are notified through circulars and invitation letters are sent through HRMS. Notification or invitation letters are distributed by district officials to community-based centres,”

He said that until all documentation had been received by the department, payment could not be processed.

“It should be noted that no payment will be processed if all documents were not submitted or were incomplete. No faxed copies will be accepted.

“All of this was emphasised to all stakeholders during these engagements,” Van der Merwe said.