Nasty new round in schools row

Barbs fly as department takes on Equal Education

THE war of words between the Department of Basic Education and advocacy group Equal Education looks set to continue after the department accused the group of campaigning for better school infrastructure just to gain “political mileage”.

In the latest salvo, the department’s director-general, Bobby Soobrayan, argued that the NGO “does not have the monopoly to speak on behalf of all interested parties, parents, teachers, students and other members of the public”.

He said Equal Education was “only one of the interested and affected entities”.

His comments are contained in a court affidavit on the reasons his department failed to meet a May 15 deadline to promulgate norms and standards for school infrastructure.

The NGO extended the date to June 15 after a request by Education Minister Angie Motshekga for more time. She then asked for a further extension of six months, to which Equal Education did not agree.

The matter is due to be heard in the High Court in Bhisho, Eastern Cape, on Thursday.

According to Equal Education, binding minimum norms and standards would set the basic level of infrastructure that every school must meet to function properly. This would include toilets, running water, electricity, safe classrooms, libraries, sports fields and perimeter security.

In a 50-page submission, Soobrayan contended that if Motshekga gave in to Equal Education’s demands, “the minister may find herself in the unenviable position that she may be faced with legal action from other interested entities”.

He said Motshekga could have promulgated regulations by May 15 simply to comply with the deadline, but that this might have had “serious consequences in the form of a legal challenge or challenges by other interested parties”.

“It is respectfully submitted that the cautious approach by the minister is to be commended and not criticised,” he said.

Soobrayan slammed Equal Ed-

The minister has made racist aspersions . . . which has unduly politicised matters

ucation for expecting Motshekga “to bow to its demands and, in the process, ride roughshod over the rights and interests of other interested entities”.

He said the reason for the delay was that the department had to process 35 lengthy submissions received in response to the draft regulations that were published on January 8. The closing date for comments was March 31.

Motshekga informed Equal Education in a letter in May that, from the comments received, she discovered that “it is undesirable for me to finalise and promulgate the norms and standards in their current form”.

Soobrayan said that because of the detailed and wide-ranging nature of the comments, the anticipated deadline for the promulgation of the regulations “proved wholly unachievable and impractical”, leaving Motshekga no option but to adjust the date to November 30.

He said infrastructure shortcomings did not exist because of the absence of regulations, but were the result of “challenges” experienced in their implementation at provincial education department level.

“It is an unfortunate fact that not all of the funds allocated for infrastructure are utilised by the various provinces,” he said.

He admitted that an amount of R357.1-million from last year’s infrastructure budget had not been spent.

Equal Education blasted Soobrayan for accusing it of trying to gain political mileage, labelling his comment as “a bald, baseless and offensive allegation that is rejected in the strongest terms”.

“The minister has, however, attempted to inject politics into the matter by making racist aspersions against Equal Education,” it said in response.

This was a reference to a statement issued by the department last month in which it referred to the NGO as a “group of white adults organising black children”. Only three of Equal Education’s 20 national council members are white. “It is this racist attack which has unduly politicised this matter,” Equal Education said in court papers.

It wants the court to grant an order directing Motshekga to publish the regulations by November 30. Comment on this: write to tellus@sundaytimes.co.za or SMS us at 33971 www.timeslive.co.za