Officials blamed for failure to pay thousands of teacher assistants

BASIC Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube has blamed the non-payment of more than 150 000 teacher assistants on the failure of officials responsible for verifying the attendance registers.

Gwarube, alongside Department of Labour deputy minister, Jomo Sibiya, jointly addressed the media over non-payment of stipends aimed at helping education assistants on Wednesday.

"Today, I can confirm that as of 10am, payments have started flowing from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to our education assistants. This brings a massive relief to thousands of young people who have been waiting for what is due to them. This delay should have never happened, and we will work tirelessly to ensure that it is avoided in the future."

The assistants, mostly young people, were recently recruited by the Department of Basic Education under its employment initiative. The  assistants  play a vital role in both elementary and secondary schools.

Gwarube said there should be consequence management to ensure that this does not happen again.

"After internal investigation, I have been informed that the captured attendance registers were not uploaded in full by the relevant deadline. This has led to the funder, namely the UIF [Unemployment Insurance Fund], being unable to approve the release of the stipend funds. When the system failed, contingency plans were not activated by responsible departmental officials."

In a joint statement, the departments said:  “Following intensive engagements which continued late into the night, the parties have agreed on a way forward that ensures both compliance with the Public Finance  Management Act (PFMA) and timely relief to beneficiaries.

The parties resolved that alternative verification methods will be utilised to confirm the attendance of Education Assistants and General School Assistants. To this end, the UIF and DEL have agreed to immediately release funds for BEEI stipend payments.”

They also acknowledge that the delays in verifying attendance of Education Assistants and General School Assistants were unacceptable and caused undue hardship. 

“For this, the government unreservedly apologises. The UIF, as one of the funders of the BEEI Phase V programme, represented by the DEL, and the IDC as the implementing agent, together with the DBE — which is responsible for oversight of provincial education departments, districts, and schools participating in the programme — remain committed to ensuring that all Education Assistants and General School Assistants receive their payments promptly, and that similar delays are avoided in the future.”

Cape Times