Fresh allegations that teaching posts are being sold for cash have resurfaced across South Africa, with a reported Education Labour Relations Council ruling setting aside a Western Cape principal’s appointment and KwaZulu-Natal appointing an independent investigator into similar claims. The allegations echo findings from a 2016 ministerial task team that found clear wrongdoing or reasonable suspicion in 38 of 81 cases it probed.
The Department of Basic Education established the task team in May 2014 after persistent reports that union officials and provincial education department staff were facilitating the sale of teaching positions. The team’s final report, released in May 2016, described a common pattern in which a teacher would pay a local union official, who would then influence school governing bodies and departmental officials to secure the post.
Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga condemned the practice at the time, saying in a government media statement: “The practice of selling posts, if true, would not go unpunished as it was a form of corruption and against the law.” The Department and teacher unions jointly pledged to act on the findings.
Nearly a decade later, educators say the problem has not gone away. An educator quoted in a September 2026 AllAfrica article said: “The appointment of educators to promotional posts is unfair, as it often depends on bribery rather than on educators’ competency.” The same educator cited pressure from departmental officials and teacher unions, compounded by divisions within school governing bodies.
According to reporting carried by Big News Network on 3 September 2026, the ELRC set aside a Western Cape principal’s appointment after finding unfairness in the promotion process. This claim is unverified — Cape Flats News has not seen the underlying ELRC award or a second independent confirmation, and we are checking with the Western Cape Education Department.
The Sunday Tribune reported on 19 July 2026 that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education appointed an independent investigator into fresh allegations of post-selling. That report also rests on a single outlet and has not been independently confirmed by an official departmental statement.
News24 reported in August 2025 that the ELRC was set to investigate so-called “ghost teachers” and the alleged sale of posts, suggesting the issue has persisted beyond the 2016 task team’s recommendations. The task team had specifically flagged the intersection of union influence and weak school governance as a structural vulnerability.
For the Western Cape, the reported ELRC ruling — if confirmed — would mark one of the few documented cases of a promotional appointment being overturned on fairness grounds linked to the broader post-selling pattern. The Western Cape Education Department has previously maintained that its appointment processes are robust, but civil society groups including Equal Education have long argued that oversight at school level remains uneven.
What remains unknown is whether the Western Cape ELRC case will trigger a formal departmental probe, whether any individuals face disciplinary action, and whether the KwaZulu-Natal investigation will produce findings. Cape Flats News will check with the Western Cape Education Department and the ELRC by close of business on 10 September 2026.