Teachers in a tizzy about SACE suspensions

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Teachers all over the country were in a tizzy on Thursday night after receiving text messages at 22:30 that their membership of Sace was suspended. They have to be members of Sace to work as teachers.

The Facebook page of the South African Council for Educators (Sace) was flooded with angry posts from teachers who complained about the fact that they were suspended.

Asked by The Citizen what is happening that so many teachers are suspended, Risuna Nkuna, media spokesperson at Sace, said Sace sent out an SMS to registered members who are historically and currently owing Sace fees to correct the current situation of their membership status.

In a statement issued from the CEO’s office, posted on its website and Facebook page later on Friday, Sace said members who received the messages are teachers who are employed or not employed according to the Sace register and owe Sace fees.

“As a result, their membership status is not in good standing in line with the Sace membership policy and section 5(d) of the South African Council of Educators Act. Most of the educators who are paid through PERSAL (the government payment system) might not be affected because their monthly levies are paid directly to Sace. However, there might be some who are affected for various reasons.”

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Sace will retract the message to teachers

However, Sace said it will retract the text message on Friday night to communicate the context ‘accordingly and in advance’.

This communication will include processes and procedures teachers must follow to correct their membership status. According to the statement, this is important to avoid any scamming outside the e-services and Sace platforms.

“Again, these SMS processes will be resumed accordingly during the first quarter of 2025 after proper communication is done. Also, technically, there might be educators who erroneously received the messages from the automated system. Therefore, a system to check if you are not affected will also be communicated so that everyone can be informed accordingly.”

According to the statement, Sace “apologises profusely for any inconvenience and anxiety that might have been caused”.

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These were some of the comments on the Sace Facebook page:

“My problem is that how do we get suspended without getting any notification regarding billing notification? Hai, now we have to pay a huge amount, whereas some of us are not working.” “I think you as an organisation should give us an itemised bill of just how you came up with the amount we all owe, allegedly.” “Still does not explain why, after paying the R198 twice this year, I’m still stated as owing… something very strange going on.” “We are not yet employed, but you demand payments from us? What is this for? You even say you’ll inform our employer. What a joke.” “I just wish we could have an alternative organisation because you are not doing any justice to us. You are not serving us any purpose.” Mine is paid, it even shows you are owing me money, why the suspended message, everyone is getting it.” “So we are all suspended—I had a MINI heart attack thinking I was alone. The website isn’t even working for me to check how much I owe.” “They say I am suspended, and now when I log in, they say I owe them R350. For what?? I haven’t even been registered for a year, and now I am suspended, and I didn’t even do anything, and I am not even employed yet.” “I woke up to this SMS saying that my status is suspended and literally started having a panic attack. The website isn’t working, so how even are we supposed to check what this is about exactly?”