The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

South Africans are owed an explanation from the minister of basic education, Angie Motshekga, after her department released a statement earlier today confirming that the department had decided to recommence the tender for literacy and numeracy workbooks for all Grade 1-6 students in the 2010 school year.

In other words, in mid-December, the minister has restarted a tender process for crucial schoolbooks, with the commencement of the school year just one month away. The entire process of development, printing and delivery must now begin from scratch. The minister has "left it till the night before", and it seems almost certain that learners will have to do without these books for a large part of next year.

In response to this latest development, I made urgent contact with the Deputy DG for General Education and Training, Ms. Palesa Tyobeka, to establish the latest timeframe from the department for the rollout of these 30 million workbooks. She stated to me that the books will now only arrive, at the earliest, by the end of March 2010. By this time, learners will be on holiday, which means that if the department keeps to this timetable, we will only be likely to see these textbooks being used by the start of the second term.

However, Ms. Tyobeka indicated she was unaware of the fact that the tender had been withdrawn - despite the fact that the department had issued a statement on it today. That the Deputy DG for General Education is not aware of such a thing is frankly staggering, and suggests that this is a ministry in crisis. It also means that the March 2010 date is only the deadline set for the previous tender process. We are presumably, then, looking at these workbooks only being delivered much later in the year.

The minister only announced the curriculum changes at the end of October; subsequently, the tender was only advertised on November 13th, in only one newspaper, and with the deadline for tender submissions just 11 days later. These are R520-million worth of workbooks, for every learner from grade one to six. That such a process should only be initiated so late in the year beggars belief. This delay - or "staggered approach", as the department euphemistically describes it - demonstrates precisely why South Africa is ranked 107 out of 133 in the World Economic Forum's Global Competitive Index for the quality of our primary education. What we have seen is a dismal failure on the part of the Basic Education ministry to get the basics right, and South African students and parents are owed an explanation.

I will tomorrow write to the chairperson of the portfolio committee on basic education, to request that the minister appears before the committee at the very next available opportunity, to explain how we have arrived at this situation, and to demonstrate that a strategy is in place to ensure that these schoolbooks are delivered at the earliest possibly opportunity, and that a comprehensive plan is in place for 2011. We also need an explanation for the scandalous timeframe in which this tender process was supposed to occur, and the fact that it was advertised in just one newspaper.