'Vacated his position' = resigned. _____
New Age2.png SADTU cheers Soobrayan's exit Russell Molefe, The New Age, Johannesburg, 1 April 2014 National education director-general Bobby Soobrayan has finally bowed to pressure and vacated his position. The SA Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) welcomed the news yesterday after months of conflict with Soobrayan over labour-related issues. "It's a relief for the union and for all schoolchildren because he was a stumbling block in accessing quality education. It's also good for labour peace because collective bargaining will be restored," union deputy secretary-general Nkosana Dolopi said. "The focus now will be on teaching and learning and we may be able to move with the negotiation on our demands for a pay progression without big egos in the way," he said. Soobrayan could not be reached for comment. Former special advisor to the minister, Panyaza Lesufi, has been appointed acting DG, the department said yesterday. Lesufi will assume the position until the end of April, spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said. Since last year, the union has been on a campaign to have Soobrayan removed from his position. The campaign was compounded by the findings of public protector Thuli Madonsela, who put the blame squarely on him for the embarrassing non-delivery of textbooks in Limpopo in 2012. He was accused of ignoring warnings of the pending crisis in the province from various sources including publishers. Spokesperson in the office of the public protector Kgalalelo Masibi promised to respond today. The union threatened to go on strike in February when Soobrayan returned to work after being cleared of any wrongdoing by retired judge Willem van der Merwe. He faced charges of entering into a bargaining agreement without a proper mandate and misuse of funds. The statement released yesterday by the Department of Basic Education said: "The Minister Angie Motshekga earlier this year promised to give details once all reports on the director-general were finalised. "The minister has since received all reports from the public protector, Public Service Commission and from Judge Willem van der Merwe. "The DG reflected on the reports and subsequently asked the minister to consider redeploying him to other responsibilities in government. Mr Soobrayan said since his name had been cleared, it would not be fair to allow the sector to be held to ransom in his name." However, education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga could not immediately state where Soobrayan had been redeployed to within the government. However, sources told The New Age that the decision to relieve Soobrayan of his duties had been already taken by Motshekga, who was meant to have announced this early in March. The process was delayed when Soobrayan mounted resistance. [email protected] From: http://thenewage.co.za/122187-1007-53-Sadtu_cheers_Soobrayans_exit -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
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