Urgent action is needed to resolve the school infrastructure crisis in the Eastern Cape. According to the Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) own data, 1,221 schools, or 25% of schools in the province, are either in a “totally unacceptable” condition or are “barely fulfilling their intended purpose.” Learners in many schools are forced to learn in dilapidated classrooms without electricity, make use of unsafe and unlawful sanitary facilities, and write their examinations in open fields.
We are thus gravely concerned about the allegations of maladministration and unethical conduct at the Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDoE), and welcome the Public Service Commission’s inquiry into them.
Among other allegations to be probed are claims that the Head of Department, Sharon Maasdorp, attempted to misuse and divert conditional grant funds meant to build school infrastructure. We presume that these allegations also relate to the decision of the National Treasury and the DBE to withhold the disbursement of R529.8 million to the ECDoE in November, after it emerged that R147.67 million was irregularly spent on two ICT projects.
The consequences of maladministration and project diversion are not abstract. Throughout last year, Equal Education has been struggling with learners and teachers at Lukhozi High School for facilities to be constructed. The ECDoE’s budget documents list three infrastructure projects for the school. None of these projects has taken place. Instead, plans and funds have been diverted, and the school has only been provided with one prefabricated classroom block, while the rest of the school is not conducive to learning.
Other adjustments to budgets and plans have left schools like Eyabantu Secondary waiting over eight years for proper facilities to be constructed. Poor budgeting, planning, and programme management by education departments leads to Implementing Agents and contractors experiencing cash-flow shortages and abandoning construction sites.
The amount of money being withheld or diverted, and the extremity of existing backlogs, indicate that these are more than isolated mishaps. They are more likely to represent institutionally entrenched malfeasance at the ECDoE.
Despite having the most severe school infrastructure backlogs, the Eastern Cape receives the least amount of funding per school from the Education Infrastructure Grant. In this context, every rand that is not correctly spent in the best interests of learners represents theft from those most in need.
We expect the Inquiry to be conducted timeously and transparently, that relevant roleplayers find productive resolutions in the learners’ best interests, and that meaningful consequences are exacted against any transgressors.
END.
Equal Education has invited stakeholders from various institutions involved in the delivery of school infrastructure to participate in a public roundtable on Wednesday, 13 May, in Qonce.
Media Enquiries: Equal Education’s Communications Manager Ayanda Sishi-Wigzell
076 879 3017 ayanda@equaleducation.org.za