DG must go – union

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) has accused the higher education and training department’s director-general of “poor governance”.

Hundreds of Nehawu members marched peacefully to the department in Pretoria yesterday, demanding the removal of Gwebinkunkdla Qonde.

The union’s general secretary Zola Sephatha criticised Qonde for failing to adhere to governance processes and ignoring issues within the TVET community and the Sector Education Training Authority (Seta).

“The director-general is not attending to our issues, despite the numerous times we raised them… We demand the suspension [of] and investigation into [Qonde] for his involvement in non-adherence of governance processes.”

Sephatha accused Qonde of allowing the “bashing” of union members by managers, resulting in the expulsion of shop stewards for whistle-blowing.

“Executives in Setas use the fixed-term contracts linked to the establishment of the Seta as a tool to intimidate our members. Members constantly report that CEOs are threatening to terminate their contracts. Some CEOs include unlawful clauses in appointment letters in order to have the upper hand on employees,” he claimed.

“We condemn the rampant nepotismin the appointment of college principals, senior management in Setas and the DG’s preference for whites as senior managers in department of higher education and training,” said Sephatha.