Education  ·  Opinions  ·  Politics  ·  South Africa

Who is holier than whom between DA and ANC in the 27 schools closure tragedy?


By Sinethemba Mandyoli    03-Aug-2012 13:44 UTC+02:00 4

The Pan Africanist Youth Congress (PAYCO) has expressed concern over the proposed closure of underperforming schools in the Western Cape. Below is an article sent to us by Sinethemba Mandyoli, a member of PAYCO in the Western Cape:

It has come to our attention lately that ANC and its youth wing are at arms with the DA Western Cape government.

What suddenly came to our organisation’s attention was the sheer ignorance and disregard for due processes DA has shown throughout this saga.

There was no necessary public participation in the whole process and when organisations like Equal Education cried foul suddenly the MEC tried to inform the affected schools.

This whole scenario rang some bells, not only did it remind us of the way the ANC tried to pass the information Bill but how they also removed a state president in the 2008 year of the Blowing Wings of change.

Throughout those instances they were operating as if they are above the law or the constitution of the republic, and that is the same way DA is operating in the Western Cape. It is clear to ordinary citizens like us that DA and the ANC are merely using the poor people for their selfish gains and only as “Voting condoms” if we may quote one of their exiled former members.

DA has up until today (02 August) refused to reveal the names of the schools that will be affected by closure and that has made us wonder about the substantial claims that the ANC has been purporting through its many mouthpieces that “this is a racial onslaught towards black people”.

Failure of DA now and ANC in the past to allow public participation when taking big decisions is a clear indication that capitalism has dismally failed, not only our people, but the people who have always claimed that it is the solution to the problems of today.

As PAYCO in this province we would like to ask both DA and ANC how on earth do they expect ill equipped, less motivated students to perform in the same manner as the students from more affluent schools. If we were to be told that this was the last resort after all avenues were tried I may say indeed our people are reduced into pawns in a chess board.

There are so many initiatives that we can suggest to the government given the platform to improve the current bad performance of various schools in the province and nationally. Ours is not only to demand the list of schools to be closed from the ministry but to also request the clear documentation of the initiatives they took to assist the struggling schools in the past.

That will have to include outreach projects, after school projects, home visits to see the conditions that the poor performing students come from. Indeed the actions of the ANC have blatantly shown their political ambitions to govern this province rather than to come to the rescue of the poor unaware people like the people of Philippi and other areas.

We cannot listen to the ANCYL while their very same minister is refusing to step down after the text book saga in Limpopo. Does ANCYL blindly approve of everything that their mother body does but does not accept such behaviour from other people?

Where was ANCYL when their then minister of education closed many tertiary institutions leaving many academic staff, Admin staff, and students without tertiary education? Remember Education means service to our country, and service to our country means sustainable livelihoods.

Let us not continue this cannibalization of our children, already we are seating with high unemployment rates of the youth, and now the DA is tightening the albatross among the poorest of our people.

We as PAYCO are concerned by the manner in which the future leaders of this country are mistreated. The children are the future, let that propel and inform the transparence needed to deal with their state of being.

The revolutionary voice of the youth!

PAYCO Western Cape
For more information please contact
Masande Mango: 0784003903
Sinethemba Mandyoli : 0736205302



 4 Comments


  1. Sizwe says:

    I hope the DA has thought about this for a long time and found alternative solutions to this problem. Perhaps the schools will be closed temporarily.
    May be they intend taking all the learners from underperforming schools to other schools for a while, train their teachers a little bit more, refurbish the schools and re-open them at a later stage.
    If they just permanently close them without considering the consequences, I’ll agree with those who say we are being led by idiots. But I’m sure they will never close the schools. Let them try. They will feel the fury of the people.

  2. Sam says:

    The closure of schools is the DA’s nonsensical idea, not the ANC’s. The ANC will act when the time is right.

  3. Lucas says:

    The political weinnr ensures its mandate is carried out as that is what has been voted for.The civil servants must give effect to those directions obviously. If they don’t, I can’t see how they can keep their jobs.Cadre deployment is employing party members for the party loyalty first and foremost. Therefore the DA would be at fault if it replaced the employees with DA party members.If the DA employs qualified persons to run departments for reasons of their qualifications, and then gives them a direction, that is not cadre deployment as they are not DA members employed for the sake of being DA members aligned to one faction or another.If those employees are remnants of the ANC’s deployment policy and are there because they are ANC members then I can’t see a problem with the DA’s actions at the moment. It all depends on how the DA replaces these folks.

    • Sam says:

      In politics they say ‘if you can’t answer them, confuse them’. I’ll have to come back and reread your point because I don’t get it.

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