23rd September 2010
Governing Body Foundation (Eastern Cape)
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE / GBF AND FEDSAS – PRINCIPALS CLOSED VACANCY BULLETIN
Dear Members
This matter was set down to be heard in the High Court, East London on 21st September 2010. On the morning of the 21st September the state engaged with us in an effort to settle the case. We are now pleased to report that the case has been settled and an order of court was made as follows;
1. The closed Principals Bulletin published in May 2010, was set aside.
2. The Department was directed to publish an open Bulletin for the 391 relevant Principals posts, including, the posts for Queenstown Girls’ High and Queens College.
3. The Department was ordered to pay the costs of the application.
The settlement goes beyond the relief that a court is able to grant; the court would not have been in a position to make an order to compel the state to publish a new open bulletin, the court only had the power to set aside the old bulletin.
The settlement is in effect a total capitulation on the part of the state in respect of this bulletin. We are satisfied that this outcome will have far reaching effects on the Eastern Cape schools as they are now in a position to interview and select principals from a much larger pool of applicants.
The state will have to publish the new open bulletin within a reasonable time and a letter has already been forwarded to the department requiring that the bulletin be published within the next two weeks, failing which we will request the court to enforce the order.
We wish you all an enjoyable break, prior to the busy term that lies ahead.
Kind regards,
Di Gammie Ray Riggien
National Chairperson Executive Officer (EC)
