The Democratic Alliance (DA) is appalled by the behavior of the Limpopo Provincial MEC of Education, Polly Boshielo, her Head of Department and Chief Financial Officer who were all absent from Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Basic Education’s oversight inspection and monitoring visit today because they chose to attend an ANC Lekgotla instead.
The DA views this is a slap in the faces of Limpopo’s scholars as clearly their education is less important than the political interests of their Education MEC.
This outrageous behavior was, not only an insult to Limpopo scholars but also an insult to the constitutional mandate of Members of Parliament to hold public office bearers to account. Members of the committee and department officials traveled from all over the country to attend this important oversight inspection only for the MEC to state that “all can come back on Wednesday”.
We are horrified by the MEC’s blatant display of disdain and undermining of Parliamentary processes. Not to mention the time and public money which has inevitably been wasted by the MEC and her officials’ absence.
The purpose of this oversight visit to Sekhukhune and Capricorn Districts was to assess the state of school-readiness for 2020. However, these officials chose their personal political interests instead of the interests of the pupils whose education and futures they are entrusted with.
Their behavior explains why Sekhukhune is the worst performing district, situated in the worst-performing province in the country in terms of matric results. In fact, nine Limpopo schools scored a 0% pass rate in 2019, which further shows the dire state of education in the province.
The Limpopo Department of Education is accountable to the public and Parliament plays a central role in this process. The DA takes its oversight responsibilities seriously and we will not tolerate this blatant disregard of Parliament’s authority.