Answers to written parliamentary questions reveal Ministers Motshekga’s ignorance of what is going on in her department.
After the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, at the end of last year undertook to provide answers to the FF Plus’s parliamentary questions about the Gauteng Education Department, she has now changed her mind and said that the Gauteng Department itself must provide the answers.
Among other things, the questions centred on the number of schools and school districts in Gauteng as well as the attack on Afrikaans in schools. (Questions and answers are at the bottom of this article).
It is lamentable that the Minister is trying to avoid answering the questions in this way. It also goes to show that she is not aware of what is happening in her provinces, particularly in Gauteng where the MEC, Panyaza Lesufi, and his department are quite controversial – as is evident from the incident of violence and intimidation at Overvaal High School.
As national Minister she is supposed to have a record of the number of schools in the country and in every province respectively as well as of how many schools are going to be built and how many were not built due to negligence and poor management so that she can step in if need be. She is, however, obviously not interested in doing her duty in this regard.
The Minister and other ANC Members of Parliament reacted aggressively during the Basic Education Budget Vote Debate when I referred to Lesufi’s failure to build new schools despite his budget and his attacks on Afrikaans schools – all this goes to show that she is not serious about building more schools to make mother tongue education possible.
The conclusion that can be drawn from all this is that the Minister is willing to protect Lesufi. She has also clearly deceived the FF Plus and wasted the party’s time as the information could have been requested from the provincial Department earlier.
The FF Plus will address a letter to the Speaker to formally lodge a complaint against the Minister for her behaviour.
Questions and answers:
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, WRITTEN REPLY, QUESTION 1315
DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 04/05/2018
INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 14/2018
1315. Adv A de W Alberts (FF Plus) to ask the Minister of Basic Education:
(1) With reference to her reply to question 3602 on 1 December 2017, what is the total number of (a)(i) school districts and (ii) schools in Gauteng and (b) learners that can be accommodated in each specified school;
(2) in respect of each school district, (a) what is the total number of schools that is in use, not in use and/or partially in use, (b) what is the total number of new schools that is required and being planned and (c) by what date will the new schools be completed;
(3) in respect of each school district, (a) what is the name of each specified school and (b) for what reason has Afrikaans single-medium, dual-medium and parallel-medium schools been identified by her department to accept non-Afrikaans speaking learners;
(4) whether she is still unable to provide the requested information; if so, (a) why and (b) by what date will she provide the requested information? NW1415E
RESPONSE
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) does not collect or collate this information. The Honourable member is requested to direct the question to the relevant province as such may be in their possession.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Adv Anton Alberts on FF Plus
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