The Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, revealed that the Education sector is facing severe financial strain due to a decade of chronic underinvestment by the national government.

The Minister indicated that the repeated redirection of public funds to bail out struggling state-owned enterprises, combined with poor financial management at the provincial government level, is also causing severe financial strain in the sector.

This was revealed after the Minister recently initiated the unprecedented review of all nine provinces for the 2024 financial year.

“The education sector is under extraordinary pressure; without urgent intervention and robust financial planning, several provincial education departments risk becoming insolvent before the end of the current financial year. There is no room for complacency,” said Gwarube.

Several provinces are experiencing escalating financial challenges, most notably KZN. The South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) in KZN revealed that the department has collapsed financially. Sadtu provincial secretary Nomarashiya Caluza indicated that the department owes close to R250 million to the eThekwini Municipality for water delivered by water tankers, as detailed in the municipality’s financial report released last month.

The report also showed that the KZN education department has faced serious budget cuts over the past few years and has revealed that it is struggling to meet its obligations. It has emerged that it has not paid all the suppliers of the school nutrition programme and missed salary payments to Grade R teachers, who were expected to be paid in May.

Gwarube said the department has recently met with KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Education, Sipho Nhlamuka, and representatives from the Office of the Premier to discuss the province’s mounting challenges. Gwarube said the department is engaging with the National Treasury and other education departments from all affected provinces to explore interventions aimed at addressing their most urgent service delivery challenges.

The minister has assured the public that the department will remain committed to working with both provincial and national stakeholders to shield learners from the worst impacts of the current financial crisis.

“All MECs and Heads of Provincial Education Departments to submit comprehensive plans safeguarding the continuity of education service delivery and addressing irregularities in school personnel management,” said Gwarube.

Gwarube is calling on all all MECs and Heads of Department to fully account for their performance in key service delivery areas, by ensuring timely disbursement of statutory school payments, including school allocation, restoration or continuity of basic services at affected public schools, such as electricity, water, security, learner transport, and the National School Nutrition Programme.

IOL News

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