A large number of recently appointed temporary teachers in Limpopo had to wait for their salaries this week, due to administrative hitches at the offices of the Department of Education.

Hundreds of temporarary educators are currently being appointed to fill temporary mathematics, science and commercial teaching posts throughout the province. This was found necessary because of a widespread shortage of permanent educators in these subjects.

Department spokesperson Freddy Greaver conveyed the department's sincere apologies to all concerned, saying the delay had simply been caused by a bottleneck in the capturing of all data in respect of all the newly appointed teachers.

He assured the teachers that they would receive their salaries within a week or ten days, and promised that there would be no recurring delays with the payment process for the rest of the year.

"The delays were caused because detailed information on all the new teachers had to be punched into a data system, while appointments recommended by schools throughout the province also had to be approved through the normal channels," Greaver explained.

He reported that details of about 1 400 new appointees had been captured by Wednesday, and said payments would "happen like clockwork" for the remainder of these teachers' one year contract periods.