Limpopo’s Grade 9 learners scored a shocking 8.5% average for maths in the 2012 Annual National Assessment (ANA). Subsequently, the DA leader of Limpopo once again called for the provincial MEC for Education to be fired.

Education Minister Angie Motshekga released the ANA results on 3 December and said that in Grade 9 mathematics, the average was 13% and that the provincial averages ranged from 9% to 17%. In Grade 6 mathematics, the average performance was 27%, three percent lower than in 2011. Provincial performances ranged between 21% and 33%.

DA provincial leader Jacques Smalle said in a media statement on 4 December that Limpopo’s MEC for Education, Mr Dickson Namane Masemola, should be removed with immediate effect.

“We are seriously concerned about the very poor performance in mathematics by learners in Grade 6 and 9. We strongly believe that the textbooks debacle had a very awful impact on the assessment of our learners. The conditions of schools, adequate resources and the quality of education are becoming questionable under the helm of MEC Masemola … We are still reiterating our call for the removal of Masemola for better governance and the improvement of quality education for our children,” Smalle said.

In July, there were calls for the MEC’s resignation after the scandal of the non-delivery of text books.

Smalle pleaded for an urgent intervention in education “to stem the adverse pattern and to prioritise maths, science as well as literacy.”