Metro police officers were recently present at Heathfield High School to prevent any disruptions after fights and clashes occurred at the school. Picture: Shakirah Thebus/Cape Argus
The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) must bring this sad saga of Wesley Neumann to an end.
Almost a million rand of expenditure, which schools could have used fruitfully, has been wasted by the WCED.
Nowhere else in the world did an education department dismiss a principal who protected students against Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021.
The premier of the Western Cape, the former and present MEC for Education and the past and present heads of Education could easily have brought Neuman to a meeting to sort out the matter.
The sad thing is the present WCED and retired WCED management were mostly not involved in the dismantling of apartheid. One would have thought they would make amends by not dismissing Neumann.
Neumann is a dedicated teacher who followed in the footsteps of a great educationist Kosie Liebenberg, who led Heathfield High to great success in the 1980s.
He had the political acumen to take the school through the turbulent 1980s. The WCED must take full responsibility for what is happening at Heathfield High.
Last week, the WCED had to close the school because students were unhappy to have the metro police at Heathfield High.
According to municipal law, the metro police has no jurisdiction over schools. Seven metro police vans with 30 metro police were deployed to Heathfield High last Tuesday.
Students showed their opposition to the metro police by not going to their classes. The WCED is responsible for antagonising the students. The metro police used pressure to get the students back to school.
The department has appointed two retired principals at a huge cost to run the school. No assemblies are held at the school since the students have no respect for these two retired principals, who are being paid a high monthly salary.
The WCED believes they are the bosses. They pay the teachers, and the teachers must listen. The teacher unions are too weak to defend Neumann.
The ELRC (Education Labour Relations Department) will decide whether the case must be heard by the ELRC or the Labour Court.
The WCED wants to skip the ELRC so that it can delay the process. The longer they delay, the more difficult financially it becomes for Neumann.
Some cases take up to a year to be heard in the Labour court. The WCED has all the money at its disposal. Individuals in the WCED are not billed if they lose a case.
The WCED bully teachers, and they are not prepared to sit down to discuss problems with teachers.
Most teachers, when one addresses this issue, feel Neumann should be reinstated immediately.
President Cyril Ramaphosa should override the WCED and reinstate Neumann immediately.
* Brian Isaacs obtained a BSc (UWC) in 1975, a Secondary Teacher’s Diploma in 1976, BEd (UWC) in 1981, and MEd (UWC) in 1992. He is a former matriculant, teacher and principal at South Peninsula High School.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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