Matšeliso Motšoane
MASERU — The Lerotholi Polytechnic Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff Union says the college rector, Tsietsi Lebakae, should resign.
The union picketed at the rector’s office on Tuesday, accusing Lebakae of incompetence and refusing to review salaries.
The union is demanding a 36 percent salary increase.
They complained that their salaries have not been increased since last year.
The union is also accusing Lebakae of wasting scarce resources by sanctioning international trips that are not a priority.
“Failure to heed counsel can make God take away discernment from you,” read one of the placards the picketers were waving.
“Stop being the workers’ enemy,” read another.
The workers’ anger against Lebakae sprang from letters the union has been exchanging with him since May this year.
On May 28 the union wrote Lebakae asking him to cancel the lecturers’ trip to The Gambia to attend the Commonwealth Association of Polytechnics in Africa on grounds that it would be a waste of money.
“Members of staff have observed that the institution is facing serious financial constraints judging by the state of the current (2013/2014) budget,” reads part of the letter.
“This trip will no doubt cause a serious dent to the already dwindling coffers of the polytechnic. We therefore suggest that the money set aside for the officers who will form part of the delegation be utilised for more pressing necessities of the institution.”
The union told Lebakae that since January the school has not been able to buy any teaching materials because of budget constraints.
It said workers were concerned that the exams were around corner but the materials were inadequate for practical exams.
“The classrooms and laboratories are also not in a conducive state for teaching and learning to be conducted smoothly,” the union said.
“For instance, the chairs and desks are mostly broken to the extent that students sit on stones and bricks during lectures. A large number of students share laboratory equipment as most of the equipment is broken.”
“We are still hoping for an adjustment which is higher than the six percent minimum.”
Lebakae did not heed their advice and continued with the trip which reportedly cost the college M350 000 at the end of May.
On June 10 they wrote him again saying since he continued with the trip, he had give them the impression that “the institution is financially stable”.
The union also requested that he buy training and teaching material.
It also noted that Built Environment students were denied an educational trip to Durban “due to the so-called lack of finances”.
Lebakae responded to their letter on June 17 but addressed a lecturer they used as their secretary, Tlhoriso Sakachane, saying the letter “did not sound like a letter from a subordinate to a supervisor in terms of its tone”.
“I believe you could have addressed my office better than that, which I implore you to do in future.”
Lebakae said as they negotiate a salary increment they should “be aware of the budget”.
About the educational trips, he said they did not have “correct facts on this issue” and referred them to the dean and head of the programme “in order to get the facts right otherwise what you have written about here is also incorrect”.
The union’s spokesperson Khopotso Litšoane told the Sunday Express that they also want Lebakae to reveal his educational qualifications.
Litšoane said the union was worried that when its members write their complaints to the rector he responds to their letters on a personal basis.
“He does not recognise our union yet it’s there and is fully registered,” Litšoane said.
“We are not impressed by the fact that he has not given us a time-frame to respond to the issue, yet when he addresses us as staff members he expects us to respond immediately to the matters he raises”.
The union also alleges that Lebakae “hires and fires as he pleases within the institution”.
The registrar of Lerotholi Polytechnic, Hlomohang Majara, said Lebakae was hired by the school’s council through the Ministry of Education and “he met the needed requirements and qualified for the position”.
“It is true that there are people who are holding PhDs in the institution but I believe that the position does not necessarily need a person with the stated qualifications but also the managerial skills,” Majara said.
She said there was a salary adjustment in the last academic year but it was not uniform.
“During the last academic year there was a salary adjustment for all employees but it was not a uniform one. For instance some people got an adjustment of two percent while others got a different one,” she said.