By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) has concluded its national conference and announced its leadership with all candidates in the top 8 retaining their positions.
Magope Maphila has been re-elected President for another five years, Mabutho Cele as Deputy President.
And Mugwena Maluleke remains the union’s general secretary, while Nkosana Dolopi has been re-elected to serve as his deputy.
They were re-elected at the union’s 10th national congress at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg on Saturday.
Maphila has been president of teachers’ union since 2014 and has now been elected to serve another five-year term.
The gathering, which brought together thousands of delegates, concluded on Saturday following four days of discussions.
Sadtu has called for unity following the announcement of its new leadership team.
Maphila has emphasised the need for effective membership service in all workplaces as part of the revitalisation of trade unionism in the education sector.
He said, the union wants to promote reading and safety at schools. It has also launched a global campaign titled Go Public Fund Education.
It is aimed at addressing funding issues faced by the education sector, which continue to struggle with securing investments, and this threatens the jobs of teachers.
Maluleke said the union rejects the suspension of the two clauses in the BELA Bill.
“The BELA Bill needs to be implemented in whole, as it is the fundamental right of our children and parents to ensure that our schools are integrated, democratised, and de-racialised,” he told the conference on Saturday.
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the BELA Bill into law at the Union Buildings in Pretoria in September.
However, Ramaphosa announced that he would delay the implementation of two contentious clauses by three months.
The clauses relate to school admission and language policies.
“The congress has resolved that the president should lift that particular suspension so that the BELA Bill, as an act, now be implemented in order to address the issues of social cohesion, integration and transformation of our society.”
Maphila insisted the union wants the Bela act to be rolled out immediately despite facing a mammoth task to advance the needs of basic education amid looming budget cuts.
“We shall fight austerity measures, therefore we declare that we will mobilise the members and the communities to counter new policies that promote budget cuts instead of investing in education. On fighting corruption, we declared that we are determined to expose and fight corruption as it steals from the poor.
“GNU has created a peculiar set of circumstances where we have to be very vigilant and be steadfast in pursuit of what is good for education, what is good for our members and what is good for the poorest of the poor,” Maphila said.