Cape Town - A march, of about 30 Operation Dudula supporters targeting the Education Department has been widely slammed as hateful, discriminatory and violent.
Waving South African flags and donning faux combat uniforms, members marched in Cape Town on Wednesday, demanding that the country “take care of its own first” by prioritising South African teachers and learners in the education sector.
The group is prevalent in Gauteng and has clashed with illegal immigrants operating businesses in the province.
Supporters from Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Mfuleni and Philippi, marched from Hanover Street, District Six, to the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), on Wednesday.
In a poster circulated online, Operation Dudula South Africa said: “No foreigner must be employed ahead of a South African.”
The march was part of a nationwide campaign aimed at education departments in every province.
Operation Dudula Western Cape deputy chairperson Lulamile Bavuma claimed that schools were “flooded with foreign nationals”, while South African children remained at home.
“We are demanding that the government, the Department of Education in particular, make sure that no South African child is denied access to education due to the fact that foreigners have already taken the places there. So we’re saying they must remove those kids and then start admitting South African children.”
Bavuma said their focus was on undocumented foreign children.
“We are ready to assist and accept Ukrainians currently, because we know there is a war in Ukraine. However, in these African countries there are no wars.
“People are just running out of their countries and in December they go back home and in January they’re coming back as if they are living in another province. That is an insult to our people, citizens who are qualified but sitting at home who cannot find jobs,” Bavuma said.
Operation Dudula provincial secretary Mike Johnson said they had no issues with qualified and documented teachers. No unemployed South African teacher was part of the march, but the group claimed to know of many unemployed qualified teachers and new graduates just “sitting at home”.
Education MEC David Maynier said the group was attempting to manufacture a fake crisis in an attempt to justify their xenophobia and disregard for human rights.
Maynier said a mere 31 out of 33 652 teachers (0.09%) employed by the WCED were foreign nationals. An average of 1 995 foreign learners joined the 1.1 million learners at the province’s schools annually.
And WCED does not employ any undocumented foreign persons, a claim widely made by the group.
“Our foreign teachers are welcome: they have valid work permits and are primarily based in senior science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects, where their valuable skills and experience are needed,” Maynier said.
Department of Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said the department employed 2458 non-South Africans out of 400 000 teachers.
Mhlanga said 574 were on work permits and 409 were Zimbabwean. “1 884 are now naturalised South African citizens.”
On Operation Dudula’s claims that undocumented foreign nationals were employed by the department, Mhlanga said: “Their claims can’t be verified, because, for example, they claim 10 000 foreign nationals are employed as teachers, which is not true.”
The Foundation for Education and Social Justice Africa’s deputy chairperson, Hendrick Makaneta, said Section 29 of the Constitution provided that everyone should receive basic education, including undocumented children of illegal immigrants.
“The government is already prioritising South African teachers in public schools,” Makaneta said.
Africa Unite Human Rights Project Development Officer Lelethu Sisakazi Nogwavu condemned the sentiments expressed by Operation Dudula, saying the country needed qualified teachers regardless of their nationality.