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ESSENTIAL SERVICE: ANC's Sihle Zikalala

Their weekend talks had been "frank and honest", they said.

They had agreed that the ANC resolution was a "call for a discussion aimed at finding a binding commitment from students, teachers, parents and the government to ensure an uninterrupted process of teaching and learning".

"Both Sadtu and the ANC agreed on the importance of successful, quality learning and teaching in the province," they said.

KwaZulu-Natal ANC secretary Sihle Zikalala told reporters in Durban last week that the ANC would propose that education be declared an essential service at its national conference in Gauteng next week.

However, Sadtu provincial secretary Mbuyiseni Mathonsi threatened to withdraw the union from education campaign initiatives unless the ANC in the province ceased its "anti-worker and anti-union talk".