The KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Education has failed to comply and honour the court order to pay three Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres their outstanding balance. 

This was after the Legal Resources Centre, which represents the three ECD centres, obtained a court order from the KZN High Court in Pietermaritzburg compelling the department to pay the three. 

The court order was obtained on May 26 and the department was given until June 5 to pay the money. 

The total amount owed to the three centres was R163,859.

The LRC said that although the three centres received some payments between May 30 and July 02, 2025, these have been sporadic and incomplete, leaving them unable to plan and budget properly. 

One of the centres, Sakhokwethu, is still owed a significant amount dating back to the 2023/2024 financial year. This ongoing neglect has forced its principal, Bonisiwe Mthembu, to incur personal debt to keep the centre operational, leading her into a financial crisis as she grapples with escalating interest payments. The consequences of this failure are severe for children, staff and the wider community.

“Sakhokwethu is in a state of despair and disrepair. Paying my staff is impossible when I have to choose between wages and feeding the children. It feels like the department has abandoned us,” said Mthembu.

The centres said the payments received so far have been made without clear information about which months or financial years they cover.

This lack of transparency has made it impossible for the centres to meet their obligations to children, staff and families. Nonkonzo Madlala, chairperson of Phumelela Crèche, expressed the impact of these failures in a plea shared by many centres across the province:

“All we are asking is simple: that the Department pays all ECD centres what is due to them, on time, every month. When they delay, all of our children go hungry, our staff go unpaid, and we are forced to choose between keeping the lights on and buying food. These are impossible decisions for ECD centres that care for the most vulnerable. As ECD centres, we are pleading, not for favours, but for the bare minimum the service level agreements promise us, so that we can give our children the safety, nutrition, and learning they deserve.”

The provincial education spokesperson, Muzi Mahlambi, did not respond to the media query regarding the outstanding payments.

In the court documents, the centres argued that the lack of funding is a constitutional issue that infringes on children’s rights and the failure to pay has an impact on children as it deprives them of sufficient nutrition, and prejudices their access to safe facilities, as well as limiting the availability of ECD practitioners.

LRC said it has been following up repeatedly via email and telephone to secure compliance while considering a contempt of court application.

The organisation said these efforts were mostly met with silence, apart from a vague response citing internal accounting processes and offering no clear payment schedule. 

The organisation added that the few payments made were inadequate, unexplained, and provided no certainty for the centres.

“This lack of transparency has deepened the financial crisis at the centres, which depend on timely monthly subsidies to deliver essential services to young children. As the department remained evasive, conditions at the centres worsened, compounding the hardship faced by children, staff and their families,” said LRC.

The LRC believes that the department is not engaging in good faith. 

It said this behaviour signals a troubling pattern of evasion and disregard for the urgent needs of young children who rely on these essential services.

The group added that although the applicants are not pursuing a contempt application at this stage, it is monitoring compliance closely.

“We believe the department’s refusal to explain or resolve this issue forces costly, unnecessary litigation, diverting resources that should be supporting children. As the LRC, this is a route we want to avoid at all costs,” the organisation said, adding that the department’s consistent failure to deliver subsidies in a timely and transparent manner has left many ECD centres on the brink of collapse.

manyane.manyane@inl.co.za

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