An attempt by a teacher with 37 years’ teaching experience to scrap the appointment of a school principal in Limpopo has been dismissed by the Education Labour Relations Council.
The arbitrator, Nicholus Sono, in an award made on Tuesday, ruled that the Limpopo education department had acted fairly in its selection process.
Sono was called on to decide whether the decision by the department not to shortlist Margaret Maake-Kgatla for the interviews for the position of principal at Modika Secondary School was substantively fair.
She had viewed the decision of the department not to shortlist her to be substantively unfair and asked that the appointment of the current principal be set aside and the selection process started afresh.
Maake-Kgatla testified that she had a B.Ed Hons qualification and had be part of the school management team (SMT) for the past 20 years.
She said she was a member of the school governing body and also trained student netball and drum majorettes.
The department’s only witness, Margaret Kedibone Mohale, testified that she was the chair during the shortlisting of the candidates.
She said only five candidates were selected from the 32 applications they received for the position. Mohale said the shortlisting panel decided to consider the highest-ranked candidates from which to select the five candidates to be interviewed.
There were candidates who were ranked higher than Maake-Kgatla that were not shortlisted, she said. The five candidates who were shortlisted were occupying the positions of deputy principal or acting principal at the time of the shortlisting.
Sono said the collective agreement — No. 2 of 2020: Guidelines for Sifting, Shortlisting and Interview Procedures for School and Office based Educator Posts — provided that the shortlisted candidates should neither exceed five nor be less than three per post.
The applicant’s version that she is on the same level as the candidates who have managerial experience relating to HOD, deputy principal, acting principal or subject adviser — because she was denied the opportunity to apply for the position of HOD and that she has been a member of the school SMT for 20 years — is [a] classic example of [a] hopeless attempt at a solution
— Arbitrator Nicholus Sono
Sono said the shortlisting committee considered the candidates that were deputy principals or acting principals at the time of the shortlisting.
He said Maake-Kgatla had conceded during cross-examination that she was never appointed as head of department (HOD), deputy principal, acting principal or subject adviser and that being a member of the school management team was the lowest rank in terms of managerial experience.
“The applicant’s version that she is on the same level as the candidates who have managerial experience relating to HOD, deputy principal, acting principal or subject adviser — because she was denied the opportunity to apply for the position of HOD and that she has been a member of the school SMT for 20 years — is [a] classic example of [a] hopeless attempt at a solution,” Sono said.
Sono added that Maake-Kgatla’s experience of 20 years as an SMT member fell short of the managerial experience requirement as adopted by the shortlisting committee to select the five best candidates.
He said the teacher failed to prove, on a balance of probabilities, that the decision not to shortlist her was substantively unfair.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.