The South African Democratic Teachers Union’s attempt to portray Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga as a “DA agent” is a poor attempt at trying to deflect attention away from the real issues raised by the jobs for cash report‚ her department says.

The report follows a probe into allegations that Sadtu members were selling principal and deputy principal posts for R30‚000 or more at schools in the Eastern Cape‚ KwaZulu-Natal‚ Limpopo‚ Gauteng‚ Mpumalanga and North West.

In its comment on the report this week‚ Sadtu was quoted as saying that Motshekga was a “Democratic Alliance agent trying to reverse what the Freedom Charter propagated”.

Also read: Motshekga denies targeting Sadtu

The education department said on Friday: “The allegations are completely absurd and deeply insulting considering that Minister Motshekga has dedicated her entire life to the fight against Apartheid and the liberation struggle she is now accused of wanting to engage in a fight against the irreversible gains of our mass democratic movement and the democratic government under the leadership of the African National Congress“.

“Instead of engaging with the report and making substantive responses to the contents of the report‚ Sadtu resorts to personal attacks against the Minister of Basic Education‚ thus robbing Sadtu members of the opportunity to engage the report on the core issue‚ which is the selling of posts.”

The department said it was committed to a public participation process and would continue to engage with stakeholders before any changes to policy are made.

“We would like to appeal to Sadtu to refrain from making wild‚ ridiculous statements in a bid to divert from the issue at hand and that is dealing with the real challenges of corruption in the appointment of educators‚ and reforming and refining processes and policies to deal with such. That is where Government will be focusing its energies.”