Gauteng Education MEC [Member of the Executive Council] Barbara Creecy has vowed to employ the services of Soweto police to enforce a labour court interdict that declared a teachers' strike illegal, she said on Sunday.

"On Wednesday, we are going to go there with MEC [Khabisi] Mosunkutu to enforce that interdict... anyone who tries to disrupt the schools will have to deal with Mosunkutu's officers," Creecy said, referring to the Gauteng MEC for Safety and Security.

She said this at a mass meeting with parents and community members at the Soweto College of Education in Johannesburg following last week's protest by teachers affiliated to the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu).

Teachers disrupted schools in Soweto, Florida, Lenasia, Eldorado Park and Lenasia over grievances about the appointment of principals in schools.

Creecy admitted on Sunday that the principals' selection process had been flawed but said a new team was being set up to conduct interviews with candidates wishing to head schools.

"Officials of the department... district officers participated in this flawed process, not governing bodies. We are now setting up a new team to conduct these interviews."

The selection process, according to Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane and parent bodies, "has nothing to do with Sadtu members".

"The appointment of principals has nothing to do with you. Teachers must be worried about preparations for the examinations," Mokonyane told the meeting.

Despite a ruling on Tuesday by the Johannesburg labour court that the teacher protest was illegal, Sadtu members in Soweto continued to protest, saying the interdict was merely "a display of the MEC's immaturity".

"If people in Soweto managed to fight against apartheid, what is this document?" asked Sadtu spokesperson Ronald Nyathi following Tuesday's ruling.

But the union's head office distanced itself from Nyathi's utterances and the illegal protest and instead urged teachers to return to class.

At Sunday's meeting, Sadtu president Thobile Ntola reiterated the union's plea for teachers to return to the classroom, urging them to be back at schools on Wednesday.

"We commit ourselves to work with government. We are not necessarily taking the rights of workers but we understand that those rights must be balanced with the rights of society," Ntola said.

His sentiments were shared by Andrew Shale of the National Association of School Governing Bodies, who urged teachers to be wary of violating other people's rights while practising their own.

"We acknowledge the constitutional right of educators to go on an industrial action but we have a problem if they exercise their constitutional right in violation of our children's right to receive an education," he said.

The National Association of Parents in School Governance also slammed Sadtu members, saying teachers found it easy to disrupt classes because they took their children to former Model C schools and private schools.

"Every year in June ,Sadtu members disrupt learning in Soweto. These people, when they took to the streets, they made sure their children were in taxis transported to former Model Cs and private schools.

"We are talking about people who have no confidence in themselves. If you were confident in your teaching abilities you take your children to where you teach. But none of these people have children in the schools in which they teach," said Mahlomola Kekana.

He urged Creecy to fire the teachers should they go on an unprotected strike again.

Like Kekana, Mokonyane described as unfair the conduct of teachers who neglected their duties as teachers while their own children received an education at private schools.

"The future of children who come from poor families cannot be compromised by those who are fortunate enough to put their children in taxis to be educated by teachers with passion... love," said Mokonyane.

She slammed the teachers for singing vulgar protest songs during the strike.

"How do we have teachers toyi-toying in a vulgar way... saying 'Jou ma se... [your mother's...]' because that's what children will say to them tomorrow. That will be the product of their own teachings. Shame on them," Mokonyane said.

Mosunkutu and Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo attended the meeting.