The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education is facing a severe financial crisis and requires an urgent injection of approximately R3.4 billion to address its escalating debts and operational challenges, provincial authorities have revealed.
The disclosure came during an urgent meeting in Durban convened by Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube with provincial leadership. The department, which is the largest in the country serving over two million learners, has been plagued by a series of recent failures, including the closure of some Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, non-payment of teachers within the ECD programme, and failure to pay service providers.
In a drastic move to address alleged gross financial mismanagement, the provincial treasury has taken direct control of the department’s finances and instructed it to reduce spending.
Minister Gwarube, in her assessment, pointed to a dual crisis of chronic underinvestment and poor financial decision-making over past years. “The reality is that the system is faced with two things… The one is the underinvestment but also there has been poor decision making when it comes to the management of finances in the department over the past years,” she stated. “I don’t think we can realistically and honestly sit here and say everything’s been done well.”
The provincial government cited recent national budget cuts amounting to R70 billion as a key factor placing immense pressure on its fiscal framework.
A further worrying issue exacerbating the financial shortfall is the problem of “ghost employees” on the department’s payroll. A spokesperson confirmed the department is in the process of verifying both its employees and learner enrollments to root out irregularities.
The scale of the province’s financial challenge was starkly outlined by another official, who revealed that balancing the books for KwaZulu-Natal would require R7 billion. “Now that’s remarkable having given away R80 billion and all we need is R7 billion,” the official said, highlighting that the Education and Health departments are the province’s biggest financial challenges due to their massive employee compensation costs. The official lamented the constant crisis management, stating, “It’s not normal that we always extinguish fires,” and emphasized the need for better planning.
As a immediate step, Minister Gwarube announced she will soon engage with Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to explore possible solutions to the funding crisis.
The meeting was met with visible frustration from affected workers. A group of Early Childhood Development employees held a picket outside the venue, accusing the department of failing to honour its commitment to pay their salaries on time.