SADTU has expressed disappointment with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education's announcement that it is currently unable to approve applications for the government’s incentivised early retirement and voluntary exit programmes due to financial constraints.
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The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) in KwaZulu Natal has expressed its dismay over the announcement from the provincial Education Department that its unable to approve applications for the government’s new incentivised early retirement and voluntary exit programmes, citing a lack of financial capacity to cover the costs.
The announcement follows a national Cabinet decision to introduce the Incentivised Early Retirement Programme (EAP) and the Voluntary Exit Programme (VEP) for public service employees. While the national policy aims to allow staff to retire early without pension penalties, the KZN department said its "existing baseline budget" cannot absorb the associated expenses.
In a media statement released on Sunday, the department acknowledged the framework issued by the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) in October 2025.
According to the department, while the National Treasury funds the waiving of pension penalties and specific incentive payments, provincial departments are responsible for secondary costs. These include:
In a statement, SADTU said it was disappointed with the department's decision.
“Firstly, it must be noted that government employees, including those employed by the KZNDOE, were invited by the government itself to consider taking early retirement. Through this initiative, the Government introduced the Early Retirement Programme without penalisation of pension benefits and the Voluntary Exit Programme "
It said as a result of this initiative being made public and employees being urged to consider it, many submitted their applications.
The union said it is therefore shocking to learn that the Head of Department, Nkosinathi Ngcobo, has unilaterally decided that KZN DOE employees will be excluded from the initiative.
"This is a unilateral decision because there has been no engagement or consultation with employees or their union. Whatever challenges the department may have should have been raised with the government so that they could be assisted in fulfilling the commitment made to employees. At present, there is nothing convincing in the reasons stated in the circular to justify the non-approval of the applications made by employees. For any proper assessment to be made to determine scarce or critical skills, there is no way that the department could have conducted such an analysis without engaging with employees and/or their unions," said Sadtu.
The union warned that should the Department fail to reconsider its position on the matter, SADTU will raise the issue with the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) and the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC).
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