A Half-Billion Rand Question for a Province in Crisis

In a province where thousands of children learn in classrooms without electricity, where roofs leak and pit latrines are a grim reality, the loss is not just a figure on a spreadsheet. It’s a devastating blow to any hope of progress. The Eastern Cape Department of Education must now plead with National Treasury to release a R500 million infrastructure grantmoney it failed to secure due to its own administrative failures, while the very infrastructure it was meant to fix continues to crumble.

The grant, withheld due to non-compliance with the Division of Revenue Act, has ignited a firestorm of criticism from education experts, opposition parties, and civil society. They describe a department drowning in mismanagement while children are left to tread water.

The Stark Reality Behind the Lost Millions

The statistics are not just numbers; they are a damning indictment. The province has over 1,000 classrooms deemed unsafe and nearly 40% of schools lack basic services like electricity and running water. Classrooms are crammed, with pupil-to-teacher ratios among the worst in the nationoften exceeding 50 children in a single room.

“Overcrowded classrooms and lack of electricity and running water are not just statistics; they are daily realities that compromise the well-being of pupils and teachers,” said education expert Hendrick Makaneta. He argues that by losing this grant, the department is directly denying children their constitutional right to a safe, conducive learning environment.

A Chorus of Condemnation and a Pattern of Failure

The backlash has been swift and crosses political lines. Zama Ntshona, spokesperson for the African Transformation Movement (ATM), accused the department of diverting funds to unauthorized projects instead of addressing the crisis. “This mismanagement perpetuates a cycle of failure that directly impacts the learning environment,” Ntshona stated.

The criticism points to a deep-rooted systemic rot. Themba Godi, leader of the African People’s Convention and former chair of Parliament’s public accounts committee, delivered a scathing assessment. He called the department a perennial offender that has “consumed the bulk of the provincial budget” while being “swamped by corruption and maladministration since the dawn of democracy.”

“Year in and year out, the findings of the Auditor-General are quite damning… And no-one, no MEC, no premier has ever acted,” Godi said, suggesting the withholding of the grant is a justified consequence.

The National Picture: A Failure of Leadership

The outrage extends beyond provincial borders. Wayne Duvenage, CEO of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), highlighted a national crisis of poor school infrastructure, linking it directly to “poor leadership and a lack of excellent financial management.”

The department itself offered no defence. Spokesperson Mali Mtimka did not respond to repeated requests for comment, a silence that speaks volumes to its critics.

For the pupils of the Eastern Cape, the R500 million represents more than bricks and mortar. It represents a chancea chance for a classroom with a solid roof, for a light to study by, for a tap with clean water. Its loss is a testament to a failing system, and the public outrage is a clear demand: the future of an entire generation cannot be another line item in a ledger of neglect. Accountability must now be the first lesson the department is forced to learn.

{Source: Citizen}

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