Unemployed teachers protest outside KwaZulu-Natal Education Department for jobs

Hundreds of qualified, but unemployed teachers said they would rather suffer the harsh weather conditions camping outside the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education headquarters, day and night, until officials listened to their pain of being unemployed. 

The protesters, who belong to the KZN Unemployed Qualified Educators’ Movement (KZNUQEM), obtained their qualifications from various tertiary institutions, but have spent years applying unsuccessfully to be employed. 

“I have suffered enough pain of being unemployed after obtaining my Education qualification. 

“I am going to camp here, no matter how long it takes for the officials to come out of this building to tell us when we are going to be employed,” said Nomcebo Jili.

Jili, who qualified as a teacher at the University of South Africa (Unisa) in 2023, is now selling snacks on the streets of her Umzimkhulu town to support her children. 

“I should be working and supporting my family, but I am still relying on my siblings,” she said.

Jili is among scores of unemployed teachers who have spent more than a week camping outside the department’s Anton Lembede Building, which houses the MEC Sipho Hlomuka’s office in Pietermaritzburg, since January 12.

During the day, they suffer hot weather conditions, while at night, they sleep on the pavement, enduring cold conditions.

Since they are penniless, they are subjected to hunger unless Good Samaritans buy them fast food.  

They said that in the past nine working days, no official had come out to accept their memorandum.

Instead, security guards closed the gates and doors at the building’s main entrance to prevent them from going in.

KZNUQEM Chairperson Nkosingiphile Xulu said the number of destitute teachers, who are coming to picket, keeps increasing every day.

“When we started, there were 36 people, but yesterday (Wednesday) there were 305 and more people came today (Thursday),” said Xulu. 

She accused the department of having a non-transparent employment system.

“We have a database of unemployed teachers, but when you check it, your personal details, such as the SA Council of Educators number and ID, keep changing.

“The department’s database does not have a list of schools with vacant positions, meaning that you cannot see which school has posts that you are qualified to apply for,” she said. 

She said, even though Education officials walk and drive past them every day, in and out of the building, the picketers do not get attention.

“As you see, the doors and gates are closed, and no one has come to us,” said Xulu.

She said that in preparation for camping outside the department’s building, they went to the nearby Loop Street police station to ask for permission. 

“Police help us with their visibility as they often come here to check we are safe and if we are compliant with the law, and that officials inside don’t feel unsafe because of our presence.” 

She said even the uMkhonto weSizwe Party Labour Desk (MKPLD) came this week to support their plight by going inside the office to talk to officials.

“They (MKPLD) promised that the officials would come to us today, but we were told that officials who are supposed to attend us are attending the Basic Education Sector Lekgotla, which is taking place from today to January 24 in Gauteng.

“Other people (unemployed teachers) came from other provinces with the hope that we were going to have the meeting with the officials, but only to arrive here to find that there is no meeting,” said Xulu. 

She added that teachers' unions have not come to help support them. 

“They don’t help us because we are not currently their members, as we do not pay membership fees.” 

Dududuzile Mkhize, who obtained her qualification at UNISA in 2022, said she participated in a similar picket in 2024, but was still unemployed. 

“I am a married, unemployed teacher with three children, but I cannot support my family.” 

Mkhize said she was keen to continue studying, but she could not since she had no money to pay. 

“I studied through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, which cannot continue to fund my further studies since I am still owing it. 

“I have submitted many employment applications,” she said.

Mkhize’s concern was that every year, the number of unemployed teachers kept multiplying.

Others suggested that the universities should stop enrolling new Education students until those already graduated are employed. 

Provincial Education spokesperson Mlu Mtshali said there was a possibility that over 2,000 teacher posts would be available in the province as from next month.

He said the department employs teachers every year, and it began its recruitment process in September.

“We had a meeting on January 16 for the next step of the process, as the schools have to inform us how many new teachers they require. Then in February, we move to the next step of issuing posts, like we did last year, where we hired over 2,000,” he said.

However, Mtshali warned that the Education database had more unemployed teachers who had applied in the past than it could take in.

“It might happen that among the protestors, there are those who are already in the database as they had applied. Every year, we employ teachers, and even this year, we will employ the teachers after establishing how many teachers are required by the schools,” he said.

He estimated that more than 2,000 new teachers would be employed this year, as there were permanent posts that would be left vacant because of permanent teachers who are leaving the system for various reasons, including retirements.

Some protesters expressed concerns about their employability due to being over the age of 35. However, Mtshali said teachers would be employed as long as they are not at retirement age.

He said the protesters spent more than a week outside the head office because there was no one available to accept their memorandum.

“Since it is the beginning of the year, there is no one in the office because everyone has gone to schools and the districts.

“But maybe the people who are in the office, including security officers, did not pay attention to these (protesters) because this happens every year. This is wrong because they should have advised us that there are people who are protesting in the office,” said Mtshali.

bongani.hans@inl.co.za