File picture: Motshwari Mofokeng, ANA
AS PARENTS and guardians scramble to secure funds for school supplies, the Northern Cape Department of Education has come under fire for reportedly “splurging” on gifts and donations.
DA MPL and the party’s provincial spokesperson for Education, Priscilla Isaacs, criticised the department for failing to fund essential learning and teaching support materials, maintenance, feeding schemes, and other necessities since 2024.
She noted that parents are forced to provide stationery, cleaning supplies, and other items. “This is while spending on donations and gifts skyrocketed from R745,000 in the 2022/23 financial year to over R3.5 million in 2023/24. The department was unable to provide satisfactory explanations for this staggering increase, which coincided neatly with the hotly contested 2024 general elections.”
Isaacs added that catering expenses for officials rose by 50%. “Expenditure on lavish gala events to celebrate the lowest matric pass rate in the country for the second year in a row could be better used towards ensuring that schools are functioning properly,” she pointed out.
She revealed that the department had only committed to partial payment of outstanding monies.
“The department paid 27 percent of funds allocated for learning and teaching support materials. Grade 12 learners at a Kimberley-based high school have not been able to start the academic year because there are no textbooks and the school cannot afford to make photocopies.”
Isaacs added that schools only received 35 percent of their hostel subsidies for two quarters. “A hostel near Calvinia is sending pupils home over the weekends because the school cannot pay staff and catering bills.”
Educators, she said, are under immense pressure to keep classes running with their own resources. “Without funding, schools may not be able to pay educators’ salaries. A school in Daniëlskuil was forced to use funding intended for salaries in 2025 to pay operational costs in 2024.
“Schools cannot provide the security needed to prevent vandalism and theft due to a lack of funding. Schools in Ritchie attest to the frequency of break-ins and vandalism after hours and during school holidays.”
She added that the majority of schools were unable to pay municipal accounts timeously or fund feeding schemes.
“Without electricity, the pumps at a school in Keimoes cannot draw sufficient water from the reservoir for hostel learners. Some schools have already been blacklisted by service providers because of high debts. It is also unrealistic to expect local businesses to subsidise schools,” Isaacs said.
DEPARTMENT ACKNOWLEDGES CHALLENGES
Northern Cape Department of Education spokesperson Geoffrey van der Merwe admitted that there were delays in the disbursement of norms and standard allocations due to budget constraints for the 2025 school year.
“The situation we find ourselves in is not as a result of the mismanagement of funds and also not specific to the Northern Cape. At the beginning of the 2024/25 financial year, the department absorbed a budget reduction of R232 million and a further reduction of R60 million during the financial year,” he explained.
Van der Merwe added that no funds were allocated for wage adjustments in the 2024/25 financial year.
“The cost of living adjustment for the 2024/25 financial year is estimated at approximately R295 million. This is in relation to the wage agreement concluded for the 2024/25 financial year at 4.7 percent for all government employees. Therefore, the total funding gap due to budget reduction and the wage bill adjustment is almost R600 million for the 2024/25 financial year.”
Van der Merwe stated that a portion of the funds were secured and paid to all schools through engagements and the support of the Office of the Premier and Provincial Treasury.
“These funds were utilised to procure stationery, additional learning and support material, services to schools, learning aid for special schools and hostel subsidies.”
He noted that schools were given the option of being provided with learning and teaching support material (LTSM) or procuring their textbooks either centrally or directly from suppliers.
“A total of 350 schools opted to procure their textbooks centrally and the department ensured 100 percent delivery. The other 204 schools made their own respective arrangements with suppliers.”
Van der Merwe added that the department was conducting a 10-day snapshot survey to identify any shortcomings and challenges that schools might be confronted with.
“This will include, among others, additional school furniture, additional educators and additional LTSM.
“The department will continue to monitor and assess the first 10 days of schooling and intervene immediately in matters where learning and teaching are affected,” he concluded.