The Department of Basic Education has come under scrutiny over the payment of salaries to teachers. More specifically the Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga addressed the issue by stating that extensive pricing of several implementation strategies was done during negotiations after PSCBC Resolution 1 of 2018.
The compensation of employees (CoE) baseline for provincial education departments was expected to increase by R347 million during the first leg of the 0.3% increment in 2018–19, and by R1 094 million after the second leg increment to complete the 0.5% increment in 2019–2020.
This garnered a receptive response from the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), the union stated that they agreed to the 3% wage increase, potentially breaking ranks with other Cosatu-aligned unions.
Currently, the government is providing all eligible employees with a 1.5% pay progression, a non-pensionable cash allowance of R1,000 at all salary levels, and a 3% pensionable raise across the board.
According to additional media reports, the union stated that while the 3% wage offer was "not ideal," seven out of nine provincial Sadtu structures recommended that it be taken into consideration because, when the 1.5% pay progression and cash gratuity were taken into account, it amounted to a 7% increase.
Enoch Godongwana, the Minister of Finance, and Thulas Nxesi, the Acting Minister of Public Service and Administration, stated that the government was committed to making sure that the next wage agreement for the public sector was sustainable and issued a warning that a 10% pay increase would cost the government R49 billion.
In a thorough joint statement issued on Wednesday, the two ministers argued that raising public employee compensation above inflation would leave less money available to add staff to vital frontline services like nursing.
