Annual education report August 2013 – July 2014

Hentie Gericke, Treasurer, Education and Southern Region Chairperson, goes up to receive his award for Educational Bookseller of the year 2014, voted for by publishers.

Eastern region:
With the ever changing procurement methods of the Department of Education many booksellers are concerned and it remains a trying time for booksellers and stationers. In 2013 numerous meetings took place with the Department of Education and the publishers to contribute inputs and secure business. Many booksellers were selected as distributors to deliver pre-packed textbooks to schools. The deliveries to schools started as early as July 2013 and were completed successfully.

Schools could procure their stationery from booksellers of their choice and many booksellers and stationers had procured and delivered stationery to them by October / November 2013. The warehousing and distribution of textbooks were advertised this year and the publishers requested proposals from interested parties. The company Edu-Solutions in a Joint Venture Simo Solutions were chosen by the publishers. Booksellers are still awaiting distribution allocations if any. The stationery was also put out on tender, but to date no process has been finalized.

Meetings:
• This has been a quiet year for any meetings. Business had been set for year 2014.
• The Dept. of Education asked Publishers to exhibit resource materials and compiled a catalogue.
• The Dept. of Education advertised stationery supply to schools and tender was open to all.
• The Dept. of Education advertised the warehousing and distribution for textbooks.
• No input or participation was requested from the SA Booksellers Association in any of the above.
• Mr. Ngonzo has subsequently been suspended and awaiting the outcome of findings, and we have since been unsuccessful to secure meetings with the acting HOD.

Relationships:
• Last year we commented on the status of relationships. We find this year that the procurement of LTSM was advertised again and this year no approach for input by our association was sought by either the DBE or the Publishers.
• The question is raised “whether the booksellers add value to this supply chain?”
• Challenges:
• The non-payment of school stationery debt for 2013 and prior year’s debt has become a serious concern for most booksellers with big amounts still unpaid. The schools had their received their finances, but have not met their commitments to booksellers.
• The membership of SA Booksellers Association is also being challenged as many booksellers are refraining from paying their annual fees to remain a member.
• The digital development in the school book area is becoming important. Publishers are developing digital (e-books) for the schools and many schools are buying these products. In most cases the students will have to buy tablets. A further challenge for the parents as well. Booksellers will have to adapt to this new form of business.

Northern Region:
The Schoolbook market continued to face the same challenges as last year and many felt that a key issue continues to hinge around the centralization of distribution of school books and for us to find a way to deal with this is the best way possible for the benefit of our members.
It was agreed that SABA at both a regional and a national level needs to engage with PASA and the individual publishers to address the following issues:
 The publishers supplying directly to the customers of SABA members,
 Unrealistic targets set by publishers
 Some publishers only providing 30 day credit terms with discounts only kicking in after certain purchase levels are achieved.
Whilst it is acknowledged that SABA has managed to make in-roads into being invited to various DOBE meetings it can be more pro-active in the media in promoting what value booksellers offer. Some members still feel that SABA should adopt a more aggressive stance when dealing with the DOBE, but this is a view that is not shared by all.

Central region:
Last year at this time we reported about how concerned we were about “recent media reports that the then MEC for KZN Department of Education, Mr Senzo Mchunu would unlock savings of about R200 million a year by procuring all textbooks through the Department”.
This was seriously worrying booksellers who feared further cutback in their business. In the end of July 2014 the media reported that the MEC for Education, Peggy Nkonyeni and Dr N.Sishi the Director of Education announced that it will undertake to do the entire procurement process itself including warehousing and distribution of text books throughout Kwazulu-Natal. They plan to purchase the books directly from publishers. We have written to PASA about SA Booksellers involvement in the process in their discussions with the Department of Education. As an important cog in the book chain we had to be part of the procurement process. Our response from PASA was not all that positive. Further discussions on the textbook tender are ongoing amidst conflicting reports in the media. Surprisingly, and for the first time in eight years, Edu-Solutions were not successful in the tender but we understand that all unsuccessful bidders have objected to the treasury.
I believe that there is more that will unfold regarding the tender and that the Department will never be able to manage this entire process themselves.
At the least we hope that our members might be able to do fair business with section 21 schools, although discounts offered are ridiculously high.
The National Minister of Education in her Budget Speech announced that “Following a national screening process a single core textbook will be listed for each subject on the national catalogue to ensure universal coverage. There will no longer be eight titles per subject simply because the high costs involved demand a more rational and cost effective approach”. Again this is not good for booksellers but even worse for publishers.

Southern region:
Since the implementation of the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) from 2011 to 2013, schools selected and ordered their textbooks online via CEMIS using the national catalogues provided by the DBE.
This year the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) developed an online system similar to that of the previous online ordering facility, for schools to order additional Grades 1-12 textbooks in preparation for January 2015. This online facility became available on 21 July 2014.
The Norms and Standards for school funding require that textbooks are prioritized in the use of this funding. For this reason Norms and Standards funding could be used for all additional textbooks ordered in July 2014 for use in January 2015. Some section 21 schools decided it is too early to place top-up orders in July 2014 for 2015.
The spending on textbooks in the Western Cape in 2013/4 was R302m and the budget for LTSM for 2014/5 allows R40m.

SABA National Office