A protest by the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) in KwaZulu-Natal is threatening the final examinations for some pupils in the province.

While matrics are not expected to be affected, grades 9 to 11 could expect delays in the final weeks of their internal exams.

The peaceful picket by Sadtu members began on Monday and is expected to intensify from Wednesday morning.

Despite criticism for picketing amid examinations, its leadership in the province said they have tried to bring pivotal issues to education department management for months.

They added many schools were battling with shortage of essentials required for the exams, including ink and paper.

News24 has seen communication from one school on Tuesday that asked pupils to stay away due to the protest.

"Please note that Sadtu in the province has called on all its members to embark on 'work to rule' strategy, as a result, this will adversely affect the running of the internal examinations.

"Therefore, grades 10 and 11 examinations, scheduled for this week, have been postponed until further notice."

The letter to parents said they would be given new timetables to accommodate the papers that would not be written this week.

"This will not affect the Grade 12 examination papers that are scheduled to be written. These papers will be written as per the normal timetable," it added.

Sadtu speaks

Sadtu KZN provincial secretary Noma Caluza said protests would be held in all the districts and circuits in the province.

She added the union had been speaking to the education department since May about norms and standards as well as wage increases for teachers.

Caluza said they were also protesting the fact vacancies were yet to be filled and an outstanding 1.5% wage increase.

"While the department has responded to us, we are not happy with what they are saying. We are seeing their response as justification for what is going wrong."

She added in addition to the filling of vacancies, principals and staff were also out of pocket because they had to pay for norms and standards.

"These are monies that are meant for printing, paper, and maintaining printing machines. They are just not paying all of those monies and not giving us any good reasons why."

"Some schools were paid half or less than half of their norms and standards monies. The internal examination does not start before the department gives money to schools," Caluza added.

She said they met five parents' associations on Monday, all of which were on board with the protest.

"They are understanding because they have been trying to get the department to answer for these issues."

Education department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said they met with Sadtu and had amicable discussions.

"We had some resolutions for specific dates for implementation. They were going to go back to consult with structures.

"The impression they gave us is that while there were issues, they were fine with what is on the table."

He added letters from schools should be treated on a school-by-school basis.

"In these letters, you will see that some schools have reacted differently to the instruction from the union, some understood what was intended and some misunderstood.

"We are dealing with it on a case-by-case basis. There are some issues and the further development of those will be addressed in a statement."

There was no statement issued at the time of publishing.

Mahlambi said the department would meet with the National Teachers Union (Natu) on Tuesday afternoon to address its concerns.

Condemnation by opposition parties

Inkatha Freedom Party spokesperson for education in KZN and MPL Thembeni Madlopha-Mthethwa condemned the protest.

"Instead of acting like responsible educators, some members of Sadtu have - on numerous occasions - proven themselves to be irresponsible, unprofessional, and unfit to educate South Africa's learners."

Democratic Alliance education spokesperson and MPL Dr Imran Keeka also condemned Sadtu.

"While Sadtu has committed to not interrupt National Senior Certificate examinations, the assessments for the other grades are also critical given that they are final, end-of-year examinations.

"For many Grade 11 learners, these results feature in applications to universities and institutions of higher learning next year. That Sadtu can jeopardise this - even in the face of a collapsing education department - is despicable," said Keeka.

Caluza retorted by saying political parties should understand the plight of teachers and school management.

"The political parties may not understand, while they are concerned with exams, if there is no money for paper, ink and machines, how can pupils write?

"We are doing this out of love for our pupils. We wants exams to be written but give money to schools to run the examinations."