He issued an order to the Departments of Education in the provinces, the Minister of the Department of Basic Education, Ms. Siviwe Gwarube, regarding the timely payment of school resource fees, Norms and Standards.
He said he ordered the council of education trustees to pay the money in September.
“I have instructed the council of trustees that everyone should ensure that this money is transferred to the schools by the September deadline. This will enable the schools to make appropriate plans for the use of money. We want them to be able to plan for the next year in advance,” he said.
He said this in response to a question from MKP Member of Parliament, Mr. Siphetho Mkhize, who asked about the plans of the department as people from other countries are flocking to this country when the infrastructure in local schools is not up to standard.
Ms Gwarube said that the law mandates that anyone who is said to be from another country be accepted in schools.
“The provincial trustee must ensure that there are enough schools so that no child will not be able to study because of the lack of schools. The BELA law makes it clear that every student must be accepted without discrimination. The head of the department has the final say when the school is full.”
He said the trustee must ensure that the money reaches the schools. It is a history that the provincial department is facing the challenges of not being able to pay school fees on time. Its officials are always complaining about the lack of budget which makes it impossible to pay this money on time.
The Department of Treasury in the province intervened, which quickly gave the department R2 billion, so that it could pay the school fees. This money will be taken from the education budget and no other money will be released.
The Provincial Education Minister, Mr. Sipho Hlomuka, said that this money will help, but in November, they are still facing another problem that they have to put money into schools.
Recently at the meeting to approve the budget for the 2026/2027 financial year, officials of the department told members of the Legislative Assembly that the problem of not being able to do other programs will continue, because a large part of the budget goes to the salaries of the workers.
This problem will cause some of the vacancies to continue to be closed, other important needs cannot be bought and the payment of schools will also be delayed. Last year the department failed to buy textbooks for schools, it was only able to buy stationery because of lack of money.
The department cannot even pay the contractors it works with on time. Even the company that provides the books has been paid this year due to insufficient budget.