By Marvin Charles.
An urgent court application to stop the Western Cape education department from cutting 2 400 teacher posts was struck off the roll on Monday.
This after the Special Action Committee (SAC) urgently approached the Western Cape High Court, asking it to review and set aside the department’s decision to terminate 2 407 teacher posts in the new year.
The 2 407 teachers have less than 24 hours left in their posts.
The department announced the cuts in August this year, citing a R3.8 billion budget shortfall from the national government.
On Monday afternoon, Judge Melanie Holderness struck the matter off the roll with costs.
In her ruling, Holderness said the SAC gave no reason for its delay in approaching the court and cannot create its “own urgency”.
Cape Town is set to lose a total of 1 674 teaching posts in January next year, while the Cape Winelands district will see 299 teaching posts slashed.
The SAC had asked that the department be restrained from redeploying any teachers as a result of the decision to abolish the posts.
It had also asked the court to compel the provincial education department and MEC David Maynier to consult and start a budgeting process involving all stakeholders to ensure that there is one teacher for every 30 public school pupils.