Thousands of assistant teachers in Limpopo are about to reach a full three months without receiving their salaries.
They were last paid in February.
The angry and frustrated assistants told IOL that they have been struggling to make ends meet since their last salary. “I am not okay because I make sure I have something to eat at work. I smell good and be presentable from an empty pocket,” one of the assistants said.
As sources of hope and expected to put food on the table, they said taking care of their families has become more difficult as they are now getting into debt to ensure that their families do not suffer.
Another assistant who did not want to be named said, “I have a child to feed and buy clothes; imagine what has been happening for the past months without any income, yet we go to work every day. With the little money that I get, I also pay some bills and other expenses. The department must do something about this,” the assistant said.
Speaking to IOL, the Limpopo Education spokesperson, Mike Maringa, said they were aware of the situation and were attending to the matter with urgent action needed.
He said they had already started with the norms and standards verifications as they were done in April, and money allocation would start in May.
He said the reasons for the payment delays were that the financial year starts in April, and everyone should be documented so that they do not miss anything important when they allocate the funds.
“We are allocating money to the schools that are verified, and the schools will pay them upon receiving what's due to them,” he said.
He promised that all assistant teachers would be paid in full, including the months that they were not paid for. “We acknowledge the inconvenience and their concerns and frustrations, but we are attending to it,” Maringa said.
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