SGB teachers 'turned away' at Durban vaccine site

Teachers who arrived at Pinetown Civic Centre, outside Durban, for their Covid-19 vaccines on Wednesday claim they were turned away because they did not have “Persal” — Personnel and Salary System — numbers.

This is because they are employed by school governing bodies, not the provincial department of education, and so they don’t receive a government payslip.

Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu, with health MEC Nomagugu Simelane, led the vaccination drive launch for teachers in the province on Wednesday.

The MEC said 127,000 registered teachers are expected to be vaccinated across the sites with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

One teacher, who works at a primary school in Pinetown and who asked not to be named, said the school had closed for the day after it was told all the teachers would be vaccinated.

“But those of us without Persal numbers were told there was no vaccine for us.

“We were told we must come back next week,” she said.

She said, however, it appeared that a group of teachers from another school, who were ahead of them in the line, were all vaccinated, even those employed by the governing body.

“It was weird. I can only assume they were running out of vaccines by the time our turn came around.”

Approached for say about the status of governing body employees, education department spokesperson Kwazi Mthethwa said: “They will be vaccinated. They will be informed in time.”

TimesLIVE