Teacher unions undecided on mandatory Covid jabs
Teacher unions say they are still consulting with their members over mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations.
Some companies and universities have announced they'll require staff and students to have been vaccinated to gain access to their facilities.
Teacher unions say while they support vaccination, there is no clarity on government's definition of "mandatory".
"Government needs to stand up and lead and government needs to lead by spelling out what mandatory means, and it must lead in terms of whether it is the policy of government that we have mandatory vaccinations," says the National Professional Teachers' Organisation of South Africa's (Naptosa) Basil Manual.
The South African Democratic Teachers Union's (Sadtu) Mugwena Maluleke says they'll be meeting to discuss this with their members later this month.
"Well, I think the problem that we are sitting with in this country is that we are confusing a mandate and mandatory. So until such time, we are able to clarify what is a mandate and what is mandatory, we will continue to be swimming in this particular confusion.
"As an organisation, we are going to meet on the 17 to 19 December as the national executive committee where we will be reflecting on the issue on mandatory vaccination.
Meanwhile, the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department says Over 7 000 markers in KZN will begin marking matric exam papers on Friday.
This is according to the provincial education department.
It says 1 920 assistants will also sit in on the marking process.
Over 201 000 full-time and part-time candidates sat for the 2021 National Certificate Exams.
The Department says it's no surprise that the marking process is off a big magnitude.
Education MEC Kwazi Mshegu has wished those who will embark on the marking process all the best as it gets underway this week.
