Unemployed qualified teachers protest outside the Department of Education in Pietermaritzburg, demanding employment.
Image: Bongani Hans
Unemployed teachers in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) are taking to the streets, demanding job opportunities as they struggle to support their families and fulfil their dreams of education.
Although her childhood dream of teaching children is fading due to her age, Zilungile Malinga is not giving up, she protested outside the KZN Department of Education offices, demanding employment, IOL reported.
The 55-year-old unemployed qualified teacher, who has only five years left before reaching retirement age, joined the peers of her age group and younger on Wednesday to disrupt traffic flow on busy Langalibalele Street in Pietermaritzburg, while marching to the department offices.
All the protesters, who marched from the city’s University of South Africa (Unisa) campus to the department offices, expressed pain over being unemployed for years after obtaining their teaching qualifications.
Malinga from Encwadi rural village outside the provincial capital city said she finds it hard to convince her three children that education is a path to a brighter future.
“This is because I have been holding my Bachelor of Education from Unisa since 2019 without luck in finding employment.”
She said she spent the better part of her life struggling to make ends meet because she is an orphan.
“When I was at school, I would look at the teacher standing in front of me and say, ‘One day I want to be like her’.
“To pursue my dream while I was in high school, I used to make mud building blocks and also cut thatch grass to sell so that I could complete my matric and enroll for a teaching course,” said Malinga.
She finished her matric at 22, but because she lacked funds for tertiary education, she was only able to enroll through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) when she was already older.
“Since completing my studies and obtaining qualifications, I haven't been lucky enough to be employed, despite applying for every teaching post advertised. This is embarrassing because my children ask, What is the use of studying when you are still unemployed with this qualification?” she said.
Thirty-two-year-old Enhle Mngadi from Inanda, north of Durban, is also concerned that she is running out of time to get employment and start supporting her grandmother, who raised her single-handedly.
After struggling with employment since completing her studies in 2024, she often travels to Pietermaritzburg to join other unemployed teachers in camping outside the department building in the CBD, hoping they will be called in and allocated to schools.
“I am very hurt by being unemployed because I am sitting at home, and I apply with no success. Whenever the department publishes the database for posts, I waste money applying, which leads nowhere.
“I have been sitting outside this office since January, and it has become obvious that no one cares about us,” she said.
However, she will continue camping until her luck changes.
“We sit and sleep here, and we have to buy meals with the money we don’t really have.
“I grew up with a grandmother who raised me with her pension, but she will die without enjoying my success because I am educated, but I cannot find a job,” said Mngadi.
Fisani Mthembu, who graduated in 2019, came all the way from Empangeni on the north coast to camp outside the department building.
She was concerned that she would soon turn 47-years-old without enjoying her Education qualification.
“I did a Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) at the University of Zululand and later a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at Unisa, but I still cannot find a job.
“I look like a failure in life, although I have worked so hard towards success,” said Mthembu.
“I am turning 47 now without being employed and my children are suffering because their educated mother is unemployed.
“I now look like a useless mother who has failed in life.”
She said her family normally has to beg money from relatives to survive, adding that she camped outside the department building for the whole of last year.
“I was paying R50 a day for rent here in Pietermaritzburg, and when I ran out of money, I went back home. I only came back in January because I was doing nothing back home,” she said.
She said in 2024, she applied to more than seven schools with vacant posts, but was never invited to a single interview.
“I am coming from Empangeni, and I am penniless. I cannot keep begging for money from my sister's children, as it destroys my dignity.
“My husband works as a security guard, and he paid when I owed the University of Zululand R6,000, but now I owe Unisa R150,000, and I keep receiving messages that I should pay,” said Mthembu.