The Free State Department of Education is allegedly in crisis, unable to fund schools and hire teachers because of financial mismanagement.
Many schools in the province are said to be without basic amenities, such as electricity and stationery. Others are struggling to keep their feeding scheme projects running while some have had their water supply cut.
The Sunday Independent visited some of the schools in Sasolburg and found a dire situation. Teachers complained of shortage of school supplies and running on shoestring budgets.
A senior member of the school’s management admitted that they were facing difficulties because the provincial department of education did not fund schools. At the neighbouring Isaac Mhlambi Primary School, a senior manager confirmed the shortage of food and teaching and learning material. She said the school was surviving on the past financial year budget.
“This is a bad situation because we will end up having to contribute from our own pockets. For now we have to take care of everything.The problem has been there for years and I think this is also the reason we have shortage of books.”
The DA in the Free State accused the education department authorities of mismanaging finances by overspending on official salaries. The DA’s Member of Provincial Legislature, Mariette Pittaway said schools were struggling to pay for water, electricity and buying stationery.
“The DA is of a strong view that the budget allocation to the department of education is sufficient, and that the shortfall the department has been experiencing came as a result of poor financial planning, management and control,” said Pittaway, adding that this was affirmed by the Auditor-General’s 2016/17 audit outcomes report on the department.
The audit report showed that the department had a bank overdraft of R800 million, while its expenditure budget was at R1.2bn. Accruals and payables not recognised were at R431m.
“The problem with accruals is that the department uses the current budget to pay outstanding bills incurred in the previous financial year. “This has a snowball effect, which means that in the fourth quarter of each financial year, the department runs out of money. This also impacts on the department’s ability to pay school subsidies,” Pittaway said.
The Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools chief executive Paul Colditz said they were considering taking the matter to court on behalf of schools.“We believe that the department has way too many bureaucrats in the system who do not contribute directly to education in the classroom.
“Imagine how desperate principals and school governing bodies are because it is predominantly they who have to manage the situation.”
However, Free State Treasury spokesperson Tshidiso Mokokoane denied that the education department was in financial distress. He said the province had allocated R13bn for the 2018/19 financial year. He said each school would receive R937m in April.
But he admitted that the department was experiencing mismanagement.
“The department was placed under administration in order to deal with structural budget related matters and other issues of financial management.
“Cost containment measures were implemented to enable both the province and department to free up funds for core functions,” said Mokokoane.
Howard Ndaba, spokesperson for Free State education department, said they would only comment after the budget allocations.
Sadtu provincial secretary Mokholoane Moloi said the funding problem was an indication that the Free State education department was in a crisis. He said temporary teachers were also affected.
“They haven’t been paid since January. Even the department is unable to hire more teachers because they can’t afford to pay them, and some schools are without teachers because they were leaving. There’s has not been a learning programme in those schools since January.”