FOURTEEN YEARs

A travesty of justice South African legal system

WHAT the world needs to know:

Labour Court/Arbitration system, South Africa.

A TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE:

My FOURTEEN YEAR travail through the South African Arbitration/Labour/Constitutional Court System.

THIS is INSTALLMENT ONE

The initial issue:

UNFAIRLY DISMISSED from the Education system 31.12.09.

THIS IS WHAT LEAD TO THE ‘UNFAIR DISMISSAL’

1. At this point in time, I had 18 years teaching experience having had 20 year gap in which I spearheaded the ‘alternative scene’ via djing in night clubs most notably FACES (1981-86) PLAY@CAW, PLAY@330 (FRIDAYS) and PLAY@THE BEREA INN (‘86-‘96)and living a life as a multimedia performance artist: fashion/dance/costumes/masks/avant-garde plays (3) written for and performed by the BODY OF DESPONDENT ARTISTS ‘84-’87 inclusive (a performance group as a founding member with four others whom I trained/gave classes in movement and exercise etc…

I had rebelled during the apartheid years.

Due to huge changes sweeping the country 1997 I returned to the profession. I am a qualified Biology (now Life Science) Educator. I re-entered the teaching profession as a Biology teacher at Ridge Park College where I taught for 9 years, leaving there end 2005 to take up a post at Fulton School for the Deaf where I taught for the following 3 plus half years.

2009 I felt a need to get back into ‘mainstream’ education. I saw an ‘ad’ in Sunday Tribune for a Life Science Educator G.B position to teach Grade

10 - 12 at Brettonwood High School. The school had a relatively good reputation as an example of ‘transformation’ post apartheid with a 96% school body of ‘black’ learners mostly drawn from the nearby Umlazi Township and I was keen to teach there.

2. After my second application, I was requested to attend an interview. At the interview was the Principal and one of his HOD’s.

The school appeared to be well run, it was clear the Government had injected some money into the school, and pupils seemed friendly.

3. I immediately warmed to the Principal and his HOD. However when I was informed of the SALARY the GB could afford = 50% of my current remuneration - I was shocked and got up to leave and stood back from the seat.

4. The Principal then had a private conversation with his HOD which lasted about 5 min. I could not hear what was being discussed. l was then urged to sit down. He said that they (he and the HOD) had decided that I was ‘the right person for the job’ and that they were not going to conduct ‘any more interviews’.

He then stated that he could offer me a PERMANENT post in the school as a Government Employee. He said that with Medical Aid, Housing subsidy, Pension and application of the newly implemented OSD (Occupation Specific Dispensation) program, that this would make up for the shortfall in the GB salary offer. I had no reason to doubt any of his intentions as I had learnt via direct experience that the Principal of schools was given authority to run their schools as they saw fit as they were ‘at the coal face’ and hence had a direct role to play in the smooth functioning of the school. In making me the Ed. Dept. offer, I presumed that there was a VACANT LIFE SCIENCE POST in the school. However, there was some mention of a Deputy Head post in the school being vacant (little known to me that this post was under DISPUTE) and that the Principal would make the necessary arrangements with the GOVERNMENT for my appointment. He then requested that I start ‘immediately’ but I informed him that this was impossible as I had to make application to the school GB of Fulton for release of my contract and that the earliest I could begin at his school would be within the next month.

5. A week later I informed the Principal that I would be able to take up the post within the month. It was then requested that I pop into the school and fill out application forms.

6. The Secretary gave me two sets of forms to fill in. The second set of forms was used to covered the first set as she requested that I leave the top section blank and only fill out section 7 and to also leave out 7.5 (period of employment) which as yet had not been finalized. She told me she would fill out the other top details. The second form (back and front) was an application form for a Government Teaching Post. I had no idea there was a ‘back’ to the form and the secretary then flipped the form and I completed it. I was told that the first form was needed to ‘confirm my salary’.

7. I took up the post mid second term on the 18 May 2009. I was told that I would not take up my post ‘immediately’ and that I should ‘climitise’ myself till the end of the month, sit in on lessons etc. I was told that the current grade 10=12 educator would take over the grade 8=9 classes and that the grade 8-9 educator was going on accouchement leave and her classes were to taken over by the current grade 12 educator. I had assumed that this arrangement had been agreed upon that the current Grade 10-12 educator had been informed. I felt she would at least have known, given that the post was advertised (as a GB post) in the Sunday Tribune. In fact this educator was extremely upset!

8. I found the school to be in absolute chaos and the entire ‘vibe’ was disruptive. After much enquiry and after various comments made by the principal in the staff room, it was revealed that there had been a stabbing when two pupils had a fracas over a pair of PT shorts in one of the Life Orientation lessons. It was alleged that the Principal applied corporal punishment to one of the pupils. This is totally forbidden in the new dispensation of school rules as it was common practice under apartheid. There had been a report in the Sunday Times (a Gauteng based publication) of the incident and the Principal blamed one of the Indian educators for having ‘leaked’ the information. This Indian educator had also lodged a complaint regarding the appointment of the Deputy Head post resulting in the post being in dispute. I was shocked to discover that the Principal was openly anti Indian.

9. I sat in on classes given by both Life Science educators and felt that the current Grade 12 educator lacked experience (it was her second year teaching) and the Grade 8/9 educator had a very poor grasp of concepts of the English language.

10. I was asked to supervise a grade 9 ‘control test’. I discovered two learners cheating. I drew a line through their text, noted the time, and allowed them to continue writing. Post the test, I reported the incident to the SUBJECT educator and asked her if there was anything else I was meant to do I.e. report the matter to the Principal. She said to leave it with her. A week later I queried what steps she had taken (as per school protocol) but she was vague and appeared ‘disinterested’. I left it at that.

11. What I discovered in the school: THIS IS A BIT TEDIOUS but without proper attention AT THE BEGINNING the entire spirit of my will to teach began to deteriorate eventually resulting in me needing MEDICAL intervention and I was put on extended sick leave by my doctor.

I felt that I had stepped into a ‘pocket of insanity’ and that through some sort of psychic twist of reality I was seen as the chief instigator of apartheid and that the pupils were enacting out some kind of ‘revenge’.

A) The matrics were 4 weeks (one month) behind with their syllabus.

B) I had to re-teach GENETICS (term one).

C) 60% of learners in all grades were unable to either draw or read a graph.

D) Learners would eat in class (lunch), chew sweets and drop the wrappings under their seats.

E) Talking while teaching (incessant)

F) Disruptive in the classroom for any reason: get up to either open or close a window, or both. Switch on or off (or both) of the fans.

G) Matrics refused to do ‘consolidation’ exercises at lesson end, claiming it was because ’I did not want to teach them’. (!!?)

H) Pupils unable to have ’open discussions’ regarding subject matter e.g. the effect that alcohol has on the nervous system/muscular control/slurred speech etc where it was claimed that I ’was lying’ and that they had driven while drunk and they had no problems with it!!!

I) One learner would fall asleep on her desk regularly claiming she has a part time job and had very little sleep at home.

J) I have never had a problem with discipline in the classroom. On three occasions I had to call the Principal to speak to disruptive matric class which did not make an iota of difference. He spoke in isiZulu so I had no idea of what was said. I called for a meeting with the HOD’s of the school to be held in the Principals office where I formally requested a transfer to another school. The Principal dismissed my statements and seemed to think that I was ‘victimizing him’ and supporting the call for him to be suspended. He told me I could not request a transfer as I was ‘just a UTE’ and ‘was not even in the system’ yet. This latter statement was so ‘out of coherence’ with our interview that I took his statement as a means to try and save face.

K) In one of the batting classes pupils began asking me if they could go to the toilet (it was forbidden *unless an emergency*). I was busy marking papers. After about the 10th request from yet another pupil, I whispered to her: “Do anything you like.” The entire class stood up and walked out of the room!!

L) Learners would roam the corridors during lesson time and disrupt lessons e.g. knock on door incessantly until answered and would not go away. A reason: a need to get some money from a pupil or to borrow a rubber or a pencil etc.

M) I could not sit and mark in the classroom during a ’free’ lesson. Pupils would run down the corridor, slam the window slats, kick the door and run away. I subsequently discovered that 2 English Educators had not filled their posts at the school since the beginning of the year. Due to excessive batting loads, Educators either failed to attend to their batting duties or allowed pupils to leave the classrooms for any reason. When I apprehended two grade 8 learners hop-skipping down the corridor slamming window slats, during lunch break and who ran straight into me, a matric pupil from the above landing came running down to inform me that these learners were ’not doing anything wrong’. However, I later discovered that they had given me false names anyway.

N) A pupil I did not teach threatened my life: I was lining up a batting class (the entire school had just had an emergency meeting on the school grounds due to ’ongoing disruptive behavior’ of pupils) and on allowing entry into the class, one of the pupils left the queue and walked past me. When I queried where he was going, he claimed he was not in that class, and was going back to his class room. He refused to give me his name and this escalated to a point where he threatened my life. When I reported the learner (after confiscating one of his text books with his name on it) I was told that he was ’a known problem’ in the school, and that he was often absent.

O) I discovered that corporal punishment in the school was ‘the norm’. It became obvious (to me at any rate) that this ‘condition’ caused pupils to be over sensitive to ‘reprimand’ eg. Whistling down the corridor, causing an OVER REACTION out of proportion to the incident. I wrote a letter to the educator responsible for caning, requesting that he stop caning pupils. I left a copy of the letter in the Principals ‘in’ tray in the secretary office as I could not find him in the school. There was no response from the Principal. I could get no one in the school to confirm that corporal punishment was in fact ‘the norm’.

P) I could get no support from either of the Head boy or Head girl in terms of their duty, or in terms of bridging the growing divide between myself and the learners. I could get no support from the top achieving learners. I worked out that they spend 40 min with me per day (lesson time) but all the other time was with their peers…..and they had no wish to make their lives ‘more difficult’.

Q) My mode of transport was a bicycle. Every single morning from day one, I arrived at the school to a cacophony of ‘jeering’. I thought that after a while they would get over it and the jeering would stop. It never did. The road into the school is a very narrow winding road. In one instance a parent was hooting behind me wanting me to move over so that they could pass. I was forced onto the side pathway and as a result I encountered thorns which punctured the tyres. I discovered this later when I mounted the bike to return home.

R) Parents began protesting the Principals suspension and parked their cars on the sports field. Groups of pupils chanted their support for the principal between lessons and during breaks.The mainstream press published articles on the ‘unrest’ at the school.

S) Thugs operated within the school. For eg: if I reprimanded a grade 11 learner (eg. Playing cards under the desk during a lesson) suddenly a grade 9 learner would begin ‘playing up’ on any pretext. I discovered this ‘gang’ fact while doing ground duties. School bodies generally have a very clear distinction between grades…in fact the protocol is that sections of the playing fields are demarcated by grade. I joined these dots after finding these pupils messing around together during lunch ground duties.

T) Due to these daily instances of disruptions and victimization I began to have suicidal thoughts, insomnia, stress and disorientation. After a doctor appointment I was prescribed medication which made no difference, in fact I began to feel worse. I consulted with the school advisor who said I should ‘just ignore’ the learners and that I should not ‘record’ disruptive incidents as the learners found this ‘threatening’. !! One must note here that each class had a report book where the educator was to briefly assess the lesson and report behavior/etc. It was compulsory.

U) At the end of the third term I had an extensive marking load:

1. Grade 10 exam Wednesday

2. Grade 11 exam Friday (two classes)

3. Grade 12 paper one Monday (two classes)

4. Grade 12 paper two Wednesday (two classes)

5. Grade 12 project THIRD TERM.

Break up day was on the Wednesday. Marking through the holiday period non stop by the following Thursday I was almost delirious. I eventually completed all the marking to begin the fourth term.

V) On one of my sleepless nights I sent a 3am email to the General Secretary of the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) who arranged for me to have an appointment. Fortuitously he was in Durban for the week. I prepared a letter for him outlining issues I found unacceptable. He did not want this letter. He stated that I should open a case of victimization at the police station due to the threat to my life and then gave me a form to declare myself a ’misplaced educator’. He said I should speak to (name) of SADTU (South African Democratic Teachers’ Union) for advice. The SADTU official stated that I should NOT open a case at the police station and that if I made application as a miss-placed educator, I would be seen as a ‘troublemaker’. I was baffled. There was no follow up or consideration of a sound way forward or in support of the General Secretary Advice.

W) As a result my doctor placed me on extended sick leave as the only viable solution to healing.

X) While on sick leave I had a call from the Principal to ‘return to my duties’ otherwise we would be ‘facing each other in the court rooms’. I attempted to contact the MEC for Education at that time Mr. Mchunu. All emails/calls lead no where. I had a few more meetings with SADTU but I was not given any viable or sound advice on a way forward. I attempted to consult with the school inspector, again without success.

Y) At the end of my sick leave I refused to return to the school as I had had no assurances from any of the stake holders that the conditions in the school would or could improve. My stance was one of DEFENSE, not DEFIANCE. I considered a return to that school as an invitation to continue being victimized. I had written three letters to the Education Department requesting a transfer without any response.

Z) On the 04.01.2010 I received an email from the school inspector stating that

“As I understand the situation, you were employed as a UTE (Unprotected Temporary Educator). That being the case, your contract was terminated on the 31.12.09.”

Z1. As a result I once again contacted SADTU who said the government had cancelled all UTE posts end 2009, and that I should reclaim my post at the school. I told him I did not want the post and that I had requested a transfer.

Z2. As a result I contacted the ELRC as a means to declare a dispute and to make arrangements for an ARBITRATION HEARING of UNFAIR DISMISSAL.