SADTU to go ahead with protest

Thousands of members of the SA Democratic Teachers Union will hit the streets in a national protest march organised by the union on Wednesday.

 

The union said close to 25,000 of its members were expected to take part in the national marches to the Union Buildings in Pretoria and Parliament in Cape Town. "The marches are meant to increase the pressure on Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and her director general Bobby Soobrayan to resign from their... positions, in defence of collective bargaining and promotion of quality public education," Sadtu said in a statement.

 

Congress of SA Trade Unions president Sidumo Dlamini would lead the march in Pretoria, and his second deputy Zingiswa Losi the march in Cape Town. On Monday, the basic education department and Sadtu failed to agree on whether the marches were legal. In Pretoria, marchers planned to gather at the old Putco depot in Marabastad at 9am. They would march along Cowie, Struben, and Nelson Mandela Streets to the Union Buildings.

 

In Cape Town, the marchers would gather at 10.30am in Keizergracht and move along Darling, Adderley, Spin, and Plein Streets to Parliament. Sadtu members have been on a national go-slow since pupils returned from the Easter holiday. The department of basic education said teachers who joined the protest march would face disciplinary action and the rule of no work, no pay would apply.