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Tensions within the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) in KwaZulu-Natal have apparently become so bad that its provincial secretary, Nomarashiya Caluza, has been assigned a three-man team of bodyguards.
Four senior union officials told City Press that so far, Caluza’s security bill, which has been paid by the union, has amounted to R249 000.
Her security detail looks after her around the clock in shifts, and consists of a driver and two close protectors. It was assigned to her last year, shortly after she took over the post at a special congress called to replace sitting secretary Mbuyiseni Mathonsi.
Caluza, who had been elected as deputy to Mathonsi two months before, took the helm of Sadtu in the province in October.
Three Sadtu branch leaders told City Press this week that the bodyguards’ appointments had been questioned at branch and regional level, particularly after the guards had been accused of intimidating members during the elections for the union’s south Durban region earlier this year, which had to be run twice.
“It’s strange that the secretaries have bodyguards only in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape,” said a Sadtu branch leader from Durban. “The previous secretary did not have a security team and this is not something that has happened in the history of this union. It is not ideal when you have union leaders interacting with their comrades at all levels accompanied by men in suits with firearms.”
A branch chairperson who asked to remain anonymous because he is not allowed to speak to the media, said: “We don’t know why the secretary continues to use these bodyguards. There is tension in the provincial executive, with one member being suspended, but there is no need for this kind of security at this time.”
Caluza, who was at the SA Communist Party (SACP) special national congress this week as part of the KwaZulu-Natal delegation, refused to comment, only saying that “matters like these” were dealt with by union general secretary, Mugwena Maluleke.
Maluleke confirmed that Caluza had been assigned bodyguards: “Based on the threats that we came to be aware of against certain members of the leadership of Sadtu, we reported these threats to the relevant authorities. Also, as a responsible leadership, we had to take measures to increase the security of certain leaders under threat.”
He declined to reveal any further details.
But branch leaders say they have no knowledge of the threats, and Caluza’s bodyguards instead leave them feeling threatened.
“They are with her in the office; with her at the place where she is staying; with her at meetings with the branches. Who is it that she is worried about? We don’t know if this is about the problems of the 31 posts at Ilembe [Stanger] and Ugu [Port Shepstone], or because of the suspensions at Newcastle,” he said.
The branch leader was referring to the 31 subject adviser positions, which City Press reported that Sadtu wanted reserved for their members.
The second branch leader told City Press that payments to a security company totalling R249 000 for Caluza’s security had been “raised” with the provincial leadership.
“We were told that she is not feeling safe. There was no further explanation,” he said.
The bodyguards, said the branch leader, accompany Caluza on regular trips to the Eastern Cape to address Sadtu meetings.
The union’s Eastern Cape provincial leadership was removed and replaced with a task team after they backed ousted Sadtu secretary general Thobile Ntola. A large number of Ntola’s supporters in KwaZulu-Natal have also been expelled in the purge that accompanied his removal.
“These guys [the bodyguards] make their presence felt wherever they go with her. It is intimidating,” he said.
Caluza, who is also deputy chairperson of the SACP in KwaZulu-Natal, had previously served as deputy chairperson of the union’s Ugu region. The chairperson, school principal Nkosinathi Zondi, was murdered, allegedly on the instruction of department of education regional inspector Mfundi Sibiya and a group of principals linked to the union.
