FAILURE BY PROVINCIAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENTS TO SPEND MILLIONS

MAKEKASIGREAT©®™ @KASIBC_AFRIC

ONLINE EDITOR @KASIBC_AFRICA 

FAILURE BY PROVINCIAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENTS TO SPEND MILLIONS

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) condemns, in the strongest terms, provincial education departments which have collectively failed to spend hundreds of millions in conditional grants meant to feed hungry children, build classrooms, and strengthen South Africa’s collapsing education system. According to the Department of Basic Education’s 2024/25 Annual Report, seven provincial education departments, including Limpopo, Gauteng, Free State, Mpumalanga, North West, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Eastern Cape, failed to spend crucial funds allocated for the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP), Maths, Science and Technology (MST), and Early Childhood Development (ECD) infrastructure. 

The most shocking failure occurred in Limpopo which left R69.7 million unspent. This includes R33.2 million meant for the NSNP, R18.3 million for the MST grant, and R11.3 million for education infrastructure. 

These are funds that could have provided daily nutritious meals for hungry learners, built safe classrooms in rural schools, and equipped laboratories to improve science and mathematics learning. 

In the same report, Gauteng surrendered R53 million in unspent education grants to the National Treasury after failing to obtain a rollover. Provinces such as Mpumalanga (R22.2 million), Free State (R21.5 million), North West (R10.2 million), KwaZulu-Natal (R3.3 million), and Eastern Cape (R1.6 million) also failed to use their allocations. Of the total amount, R40.1 million was meant for the National School Nutrition Programme, an intervention designed to improve school attendance and learning outcomes by ensuring that no child learns on an empty stomach. 

Limpopo, Free State, and Eastern Cape were the worst performers in this regard, while Eastern Cape has one of the highest child malnutrition and hunger rates in the country. 

It is inexcusable that in a province where a majority of learners depend on the school feeding scheme, funds meant to sustain them are returned unused. Equally disgraceful is the underspending of R28.6 million in the Maths, Science, and Technology (MST) grant, which is aimed at increasing the number of pupils taking these critical subjects. Provinces such as Limpopo, North West, Free State, and Mpumalanga collectively failed to utilise these funds. 

This is in a context where South Africa’s maths and science performance continues to rank among the lowest globally, and where fewer than 40% of learners pass mathematics. The failure to spend R37.4 million of ECD grants is equally shameful, especially given the dire state of early childhood centres across the country. Provinces such as Gauteng (R20.3 million),

Limpopo (R4.3 million), and Mpumalanga (R7.6 million) abandoned funds meant to improve the safety and infrastructure of ECD centres, essentially robbing children of the early learning foundation critical for long-term academic success. At the same time, schools across South Africa remain crippled by teacher shortages, while tens of thousands of qualified educators remain unemployed. 

There are over  31,000 vacant teaching posts nationwide, with KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, and Limpopo among the hardest hit. This means classrooms remain overcrowded, learners go untaught in key subjects, and rural education collapses while billions are transferred to provinces that then fail to use them. 

The EFF views this failure as a deliberate act of cruelty. To refuse to feed children, to withhold funds for science and education, and to neglect early childhood centres is to destroy the very foundation of the nation. It is a betrayal of the constitutional promise of equality, dignity, and access to basic education. 

The EFF demands that those responsible for these failures be dismissed for incompetence and neglect. South Africa cannot continue to be by people who lack the political will to feed hungry children while claiming to serve the people. 

MAKEKASIGREAT©®™ @KASIBC_AFRICA