• On 21 February 2012 Equal Education sent a memorandum to Finance Minsiter Pravin Gordhan drawing his attention to funds in the Schools Infrastructure Backlog Grant that had not been spent by the Department of Basic Education. The memorandum highlighted undersprending and called on the Department of Finance to 'provide more oversight to ensure better financial management and accountability from provinces. This includes monitoring delivery when conditional grants are given for the building of School Infrastructure' 

The memorandum is available HERE. 

• On 29 October 2012 Business Day published an article by Carol Paton revealing that Treasury had taken R7.2 billion away from the Department of Basic Education because of slow spending of the Schools Infrastructure Backlogs Grant.  

The article is available HERE.

• In 2012 the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement prepared by the National Treasury it stated that: 

"As a result of slow spending on the schools infrastructure backlogs grant, R7.2 billion has been taken away from this programme over the medium term. These funds will be used to increase the education infrastructure grant to provinces and the community library grant, and to support the construction of new universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape." (pg. 43)

• On 30 October 2012 the Department of Basic Education released a statement denying that Treasury had reallocated the R7.2 billion grant. It claimed that the Business Day article by Carol Paton was a 'fabrication'. 

• On 2 November 2012 the Treasury confirmed to the Mail and Guardian that it had reallocated the funds due to the Department of Basic Education's slow pace of spending.