Process of appointing new deputy principal unfair

IT is with great concern that I share my recruitment nightmare with you.

Last year I applied for the deputy principal posts that were advertised as vacant by the Eastern Cape department of education.

Fortunately I was selected as one of the candidates to undergo interviews for the post at a Port Elizabeth township primary school [the name has been supplied to The Herald].

The set date for the interviews was during the first week of December.

On the day the other candidates and I attended, and we waited four full hours outside the interview venue before the principal casually walked out and told us that the interviews had been postponed and we would be called back at a later stage.

One of the candidates who had also come for an interview then asked the principal to confirm if we would be called again and she said yes, we would be called again.

Imagine my shock when I called the school two weeks ago, to be told interviews had already taken place and the successful candidate had been appointed.

Mr Editor, am I wrong to think that because we had made it to the interview stage we deserved to be called again and why is it that we were not called when we were told we would be called back?

In my understanding, a person gets called when he or she meets the criteria for an advertised post, and the post was never re-advertised nor was the post profile ever changed.

So I am still baffled as to what happened that I was not invited to the second round of interviews.

Which of the criteria had I failed to meet this time around?

I will not bother writing to the useless Sadtu of my branch or the negligent customer care unit of the department.

Instead I will pursue this matter against the department legally because seemingly it gets away with a lot unchallenged.

With that said, I conclude by saying interviews create anxiety in candidates.

Imagine waiting the whole day for an interview. Seemingly this seems to be a norm in most government departments that I have attended interviews in.

Second, the Eastern Cape will never improve its education performance because appointments are based on cadreship instead of skills.

Third, the non-involvement of human resource personnel during the recruitment process in schools will always bring about doubtful/ irregular appointments.