THE KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has rejected early retirement applications from long-serving staff, defying a Cabinet directive aimed at reducing salary costs.
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THE KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has rejected early retirement applications from long-serving staff, defying a Cabinet directive aimed at reducing salary costs.
This decision has sparked outrage among teachers' unions, who argue that financial constraints should not justify the rejection
The Cabinet decided in a special meeting held on April 10, 2024, that all the national and provincial government departments should approve all the early retirement applications, which their employees submitted before the closing date of November 30 last year.
The government wants to cut salary costs by allowing long-service employees to leave early so that it could employ younger people at lower remunerations.
After the Cabinet’s decision, which excluded municipalities, the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) cascaded it to all departments in October 2025.
However, in a move that shocked and angered teachers unions such as the South African Teachers Union (SADTU) and the National Professional Teachers' Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA), the provincial Department of Education acted contrary to the Cabinet’s decision by releasing a circular stating that it would not approve applications received before the national government’s stipulated cut-off date.
Provincial Education head Nkosinathi Ngcobo informed senior education officials, including school principals and governing bodies, on March 2 that the current department’s financial constraints do not enable it to afford the costs associated with approving the applications.
“Therefore, all applications are, regrettably, not approved for this phase.
“The content of this circular must be brought to the attention of all employees and officials under your supervision,” read Ngcobo’s circular.
It remains unclear how many early retirement applications were declined, as questions sent to the department on Thursday afternoon were not answered.
The Cabinet’s determination required additional financial incentive for employees aged 55 to 59, calculated at two weeks of basic salary per year for the first 20 years of pensionable service, and one week’s financial incentive for each completed year of pensionable service.
The Cabinet also instructed a financial incentive for employees aged 60 to 63, calculated at two weeks of basic salary per year for the first 10 years of pensionable service, and one week’s financial incentive for each completed year of pensionable service.
“The costs incurred by waiving pension penalties, as well as the costs associated with the financial incentives, are funded by the National Treasury.
“However, costs in respect of pro-rata service bonus pay, capped leave, unused current annual leave, and resettlement costs are expected to be funded from within the department’s baseline budget,” read Ngcobo’s circular.
Ngcobo also told department managers that the Cabinet’s decision was not automatic, as it should not compromise the department’s service delivery mandate.
However, a senior official within the Education Department, who asked to remain anonymous, stated that financial constraints should not justify the provincial department's rejection of the applications.
“They are saying they did not have money, but the money comes from the National Treasury and this is not a secret
“If there is a decline because of the budget, it should be the National Treasury that would say we don’t have enough money to cover these people,” she said
She said after each department has received the list of applications, it would send it to the National Treasury.
“After the DPSA approved the Cabinet decision, it was taken to National Treasury, who after doing the calculations, responded to the department and said ‘yes, we have allocated the money’ and they sent the money to the departments,” said another senior government official who was involved in the Cabinet decision.
In his Budget Speech in February, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced a total of R3.7 billion for nearly 8,000 civil servants keen to retire early.
He also allocated R340 million to the provincial equitable share for the early retirement and voluntary exit programme.
“Your question to KwaZulu-Natal Education is what do you mean by saying you don’t have the money because the money for this thing is coming straight from the National Treasury and not from your department,” said the official.
Teacher unions have vowed to challenge the provincial Education’s decision.
“We have raised questions to the circular because members are surprised and have a certain level of anger as they feel treated differently because other provinces are processing.
“In KZN, other departments are also processing,” said NAPTOSA Executive Director Basil Manuel.
“In KZN, other departments are also processing,” said NAPTOSA Executive Director Basil Manuel.
He said the union was questioning the legitimacy of Ngcobo’s financial constraint for rejecting applications.
“The department contributes the smallest part of the costs, as the Treasury has guaranteed certain things and the pension comes from the Government Employees Pension Fund.
“We are not buying this, especially since this is designed to reduce the salary bill because the people that are going off are those earning the highest salaries because of their long service, and younger people would come in at lower salary levels,” said Manuel.
He said the union referred the matter to the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC), Public Service Coordination Bargaining Council, and the DPSA.
He said he had on Thursday asked DPSA Minister Inkosi Mzamo Buthelezi for rational reasons, particularly given that this was a Cabinet directive and was awaiting a response.
SADTU Provincial Secretary Nomarashiya Caluza said Ngcobo did not consult or engage her union and department employees.
“The only engagement was this circular,” Caluza said.
She said the provincial department should be bound by the Cabinet’s directive.
“We are not aware of any engagement between the KZN Department of Education and the SA Cabinet.
“This is a national initiative and the KZN Department of Education can’t be treating its employees in a manner that disadvantages them, while in the other provincial departments are complying with the Cabinet decision,” she said.
Caluza said SADTU has requested a meeting with Ngcobo to convince him to comply with the Cabinet directive.
DPSA spokesperson Moses Mushi said the department only drafted a policy around the Cabinet’s decision. He said each individual department was responsible for the implementation.