Saftu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said the union was completely disappointed by Damelin and its sister colleges, ICESA, Lyceum and Central Technical College, for the non-payment of salaries to their employees at different campuses across the country.

“This is a kick in the teeth of workers especially when considering that these employees need the money to meet their household spending obligation for the festive season,” Vavi said.

According to Vavi, the colleges have not paid their staff for November and December 2023 wages, that especially college lectures have been receiving late payments since after Covid-19, and that despite their efforts, the Damelin College management has been avoiding the union federation and failed to respond.

Last month SAFTU released a statement calling out Damelin’s abuse of workers by not paying them on time consistently for the rest of this year, allegedly unprofessionally handling their grievances and terminating some contracts without following due process.

“It is our contention that such money must not be used to lure prospective students to register for 2024, but to pay the employees who have already credited these institutions with their labour power,” Vavi said.

In addition, Vavi said that staff members were allegedly intimidated by the institution for attempting to address their grievances.

Saftu spokesperson Trevor Shaku said Damelin was not the only college affected under the group and that Damelin’s sister college, CTC, had closed its branches in Pretoria and Johannesburg and retrenched employees, without following due processes.

“Each time they raise complaints about the payments and other grievances, they are told they can leave the company if they are not satisfied. These are tantrums only selfish children can throw and this has led to a working culture where workers are not free to raise their dissatisfaction and grievances,” Shaku said.

Educor Holdings describes itself as a premier education group and is the owner of Damelin, City Varsity and Intec colleges, and also includes Lyceum colleges and Central Technical College.

INSIDE EDUCATION

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As winter ended and spring entered with sunny pleasantness, thousands of “attackers” sprang into action to plague the part of the population that suffers from allergies and hay fever.

According to Prof Frank Neumann, subject chair for geology and soil sciences at the North-West University’s (NWU’s) School for Geo- and Spatial Sciences, these assailants have one thing in common: they are mostly alien pollen that should not have been in South Africa in the first place. 

They come from plants that are often under climatic stress because they are unsuited to this climate, and constantly release high amounts of pollen at short intervals. 

“These culprits are exotic trees and plants found in South African gardens originating from Europe, Asia and North America in the Northern Hemisphere. They pollinate from August onwards, with fungi joining soon after the first spring rains.”

These pollen producers are like a who’s who list of popular trees and garden plants, and include the London plane tree, mulberry, birch, cypress and oak. Add grass pollen and spores of fungi to the mix and you have a potent cocktail for allergic discomfort.

Ragweed, a North American weed also known as Ambrosia, is adding its highly allergenic pollen to the mix, especially in the area in Potchefstroom where Prof Neumann and his students are measuring pollen counts for research purposes, as well as contributing data to the Real Pollen Count website*.

He says the ragweed counts reach moderate levels in Potchefstroom and are much higher than in the rest of South Africa so far. “Ragweed pollen is highly allergenic and there seem to be high occurrences of the pollen close to our sampling site. This was supported by a local general practitioner and allergologist, Dr Jurgen Staats, who found indications of allergenicity here in the local population during skin prick tests.”

Prof Neumann is a palynologist** who works in aerobiology and says their work is all about measuring allergy-causing pollen spores in the atmosphere.

Identifying and measuring airborne pollen and fungal spores (aerospora) is a pioneering aerobiological project in the North West province. It was initiated on 15 November 2022. Dr Dorra Gharbi, an aerobiologist, started measuring the atmosphere’s aerospora (pollen and fungal spores) as part of the project.

A state-of-the-art seven-day volumetric spore trap has been installed on the roof of one of the NWU’s buildings to determine exactly which kinds of allergenic pollen are prevalent on certain days and in what quantities. 

The project is still in its infancy and part of the nationwide South African Pollen Network (SAPNET). Its principal investigators are Prof Jonny Peter and Dr Dilys Berman from the Lung Institute Allergy and Immunology Clinic at the University of Cape Town. Prof Neumann says once they have a dataset for a full year, they will be able to identify allergenic weeds, trees and trends more accurately.

The team members include Nikiwe Ndlovu, the technician responsible for the weekly collection of the samples from the spore trap at the NWU.

“The drum of the spore trap rotates two millimetres every hour of the day so that the trap can continuously collect pollen, fungal material and dust spores from the air,” she says. “We collect these samples every Monday and process the data daily. We then examine the microscopic slides through a light microscope and count how much pollen we find in each day’s sample from specific trees and herbs.”

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On Wednesday Equal Education (EE), represented by the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) presented heads of arguments in the Western Cape High Court challenging “potentially dangerous changes” made to Western Cape education law. 

“When the action was instituted, our collaboration schools were just getting off the ground. Since then, the model has produced excellent results, with learners having access to incredible learning opportunities.

Our collaboration school donors have contributed to the value of over R325 million to our schools to date, a contribution to our education sector that might otherwise not have been made. Of the schools using the model, 10 are new schools, offering over 8 300 no-fee school places to learners, the Western Cape education department said through a media statement. 

The Western Cape Provincial School Education Amendment Act of 2018 (the Amendment Act) has changed the Western Cape education law in major ways, the court heard. 

“It has made it possible for two new types of schools to be established – collaboration and donor-funded schools – where donors and private entities are given significant control of public schools in a way that undermines the principles of democratic governance and accountability,” Equal Education argued Wednesday. 

Equal Education says the Amendment Act has also made possible the establishment of intervention facilities for learners found guilty of serious misconduct. Learners sent to intervention facilities can be separated from their family and community for up to a year.

“We are challenging the introduction of these three institutions because the law around them is vague, is inconsistent with the Constitution and in conflict with the South African Schools Act (SASA),” Equal Education and Equal Education Law Centre said in a joint statement.  

Maynier said his department is seeing a positive trend in systemic test and matric results at schools, but said it is not the only reason the model is valuable. 

He added that learners at collaboration schools also benefit from access to opportunities made possible by the involvement of operating partners.

The involvement of operating partners allows additional resources to be brought in, like career guidance counsellors and mentors, partnerships with non-governmental organisations promoting the mental health and wellbeing of learners, resources for remedial education, teacher training, support for the school’s financial management, and other interventions to support teaching and learning.

“The model has also allowed communities to become more involved in establishing schools that serve the unique needs of their community. This kind of direct parental involvement can only benefit our education system, and our learners.

“One need only look at collaboration schools like Apex High School, Jakes Gerwel Technical High School, and Boundary Primary School, to see the benefits that the model offers, Maynier said. 

The NGO told the court that it is not opposed to testing innovative education models, but recognise that experimentation in education is a very sensitive undertaking as it involves the lives and futures of learners.

Click here to listen to Tarryn Cooper-Bell, Senior Attorney at Equal Education Law Centre.

The case continues on Thursday.

– Inside Education 

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