Sadtu: Exams must be written
2008-09-11 15:26
Durban - A senior KwaZulu-Natal leader of the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu) on Thursday urged teachers to ensure that the Grade 11 and Grade 12 exams are not disrupted by protests in support of African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma.
"Those invigilating the Grade 12 science paper and the Grade 11 geography paper must ensure that those exams are written," said Sadtu's KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) provincial secretary general Sipho "KK" Nkosi.
The exams would "be a good barometer" of students' preparations for the end of year of exams, he said.
"These papers cannot be postponed. We do not want KZN children to be excluded," he said.
Nkosi was reacting to reports that the Sadtu Midlands region had said the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department would have to postpone the exams to allow members invigilating the exams to attend the protests planned outside the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
He said that since the exams were set nationally, the department could not change the dates.
KwaZulu-Natal education superintendent Cassius Lubisi said the department had not received a request to have the exam dates changed.
"We regard this coming Friday as a normal schooling day.
"Only the Minister of Education can change the school timetable, and we have not received any notification that the timetable has been amended.
"We therefore expect the examinations, which are national examination written by children through out the country, to continue as planned.
"As a province, we have no power to change the examination timetable either," he said.
Nkosi urged members who could afford to be at the Pietermaritzburg High Court without disadvantaging school children to attend the night vigil and the show of support outside the court buildings.
"Sadtu supports Zuma. We believe he is being harassed and persecuted. The Scorpions and some elements of the media have dealt with Zuma to prevent him from becoming the next president," he said.
Judge Chris Nicholson will hand down his ruling on Friday on Zuma's application to have the decision by the Scorpions to charge him declared unlawful.
Zuma faces a charge of racketeering, four charges of corruption, a charge of money laundering and 12 charges of fraud related to the multi-billion rand arms government arms deal.
He was charged in 2005, but that case was struck from the role in 2006. He was re-charged in December 2007.
A charge of racketeering and two counts of corruption are also faced by two Thint companies - Thint Holding (Southern Africa) Pty Ltd and Thint (Pty) Ltd - the South African subsidiaries of the French arms manufacturer Thales International (formerly Thomson-CFS).
- SAPA