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The Basic Education Department says it has paid 481 temporary teachers in the Eastern Cape following a recent court order obtained by the Legal Resource Centre.
In an affidavit to the LRC on Wedensday, the Department said it remained committed to meeting its obligations in terms of the court order.
It said there are 1,365 temporary educators, who received letters of appointment, that are eligible to be paid.
LRC director, Sarah Sephton, says the Department indicated that a further 473 educators were entered onto the pay run on Wednesday for payment.
"I received an affidavit from the Depart of Basic Education setting out what steps they've taken to comply with the court order and what problems they had in complying with the court order."
"They have indicated a 100% commitment to ensure that the court order is complied with in full. We are very pleased about that and believe that is the position they should take," said Sephton.
"The have indicated that they so far have a list of 1 365 temporary educators that are eligible to be paid. Remember that this aspect of the court order or this deadline only deals with temporary teachers who have letters of appointment," she added.
Septhon said "if you don't have letters of appointment then this will be dealt with in the further phase of the court order,"
She says the Department of Basic Education has indicated that "481 of these temporary educators were paid on the August 20 and a further 473 that were entered for a pay run August 22.
"So, in total 124 of that amount of have not been processed because of a problem with the paper work. For example one school in Grahamstown was contacted and told to submit identity documents for two teachers," she said.
Septhon said her biggest concern at the moment is that there may be educators that are not on this list of educators that must be paid. "I have got a list of educators that will be paid but only 481are on that list, I don't have the other list," Sephton said.
She says has appealed to those educators to submit their letters of appointment to the Legal Resource Centre's Grahamstown office if they have not been paid. However, Sephton said they should wait until the end of business on Friday.
