The department of basic education did not construct or replace schools in the Eastern Cape, Free State, Limpopo and North West during the 2023-24 financial year. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
The department of basic education did not construct or replace schools in the Eastern Cape, Free State, Limpopo and North West during the 2023-24 financial year.
Director general Mathanzima Mweli said this during a parliamentary select committee meeting on Tuesday, which focused on school infrastructure projects, including facilities for children with special needs.
KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest number of schools either built or renovated, with three projects completed, followed by Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape, which each built one school.
The Western Cape infrastructure department delivered 39 schools in the same period.
This is a significant decline compared to a decade ago when, in the 2014-15 financial year, the department completed 32 schools in the Eastern Cape, 24 in Gauteng, 19 in Mpumalanga, 12 in KwaZulu-Natal, and 13 in Limpopo.
Underspending across provinces
Provincial underspending on infrastructure remains a critical issue. The Eastern Cape was allocated R1.8 billion for the 2024-25 financial year and had spent 70% of its budget.
Limpopo fared worse, spending just 41% of its R1.5 billion allocation as of mid-November.
Mweli confirmed that the department would continue redirecting funds from provinces failing to use their allocations effectively.
“EIG [education infrastructure grant] is no longer battling like it used to battle before. If provinces don’t spend, we take their money [and] redirect them to provinces that are overheating. So that’s the principle that we are adopting,” he said.
Overcrowded classrooms and budget constraints
Efforts to address overcrowded classrooms have also faltered. The department piloted a programme to build additional classrooms, but budget cuts forced it to halt many of the projects.
“We had initially planned to deal with 30 overcrowded schools, but because of budget cuts, the money got reduced, and we had to stop some of the projects,” said Mweli. “That’s why in this financial year it will only be one school because that’s [the] budget that is available.”
Pit latrines
Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube reaffirmed her commitment to clearing the backlog of school pit latrines by March next year.
The backlog includes toilets identified in 2018 as part of the Sanitation Appropriate for Education (SAFE) initiative, one of the projects spearheaded by President Cyril Ramaphosa when he first assumed office.
These ablutions would take preference, said Gwarube, while other pit latrines identified during the course of audits would then be attended to.
“The target is to make sure that, although that backlog is cleared by the end of March 2025, it does not mean that upon further analysis or an audit, we won’t find more.”
She emphasised the need for ongoing audits to identify and address newly reported pit latrines.
According to Amnesty International, more than 3,900 illegal pit toilets remain in South African schools.
Consolidating infrastructure grants
To tackle the infrastructure backlogs, the treasury has proposed merging the school backlog infrastructure grant with the education infrastructure grant.
The education infrastructure grant will fall under provincial control, while the school infrastructure backlog grant will remain with the department for targeted interventions where provinces fail to meet infrastructure needs.
Of the R1.6 billion allocated to the department for the 2024-25 financial year, R1.2 billion has already been spent, with several projects ongoing.
“Which means that the system is already overheating, [while we are] still left with about four months towards the end of the financial year,” said Mweli.
