AfriForum concerned about GDE’s misdirected blame and proposed review of decentralisation
AfriForum is concerned that the Gauteng MEC for Education, Lebogang Maile, is attempting to cover up the Gauteng Department of Education’s (GDE) role in schools’ municipal debt and is considering the review of the decentralisation of schools’ financial management. This follows after Maile yesterday (17 May) elaborated in detail on the fiscal challenges faced by this Department, also with reference to AfriForum and Laerskool Wierdapark’s successful court case against the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality’s disconnection of schools’ power supply.
According to Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s Head of Cultural Affairs, it is concerning that the MEC downplays the Department’s own role in the current crises. “He mentions, among other things, that the problems with maintenance and infrastructure stem from migration into the province. However, the long-standing underspending of the Department’s annual budgets for infrastructure development and maintenance is not mentioned.”
Although Maile rightly points out that the R583,9 million which have been owed to Gauteng municipalities for more than 60 days threatens the future of education in the province, Bailey adds that a large part of this is due to the GDE’s own maladministration.
“Property rates should be paid by the province to the municipal authorities, not by the schools. Furthermore, the Department is in arrears with the payment of the allocations per learner to schools. Outstanding allocations of 2025 were only paid to the schools in January this year and amounts for 2026 that were due by 15 May, are still outstanding.”
Bailey further states that the GDE’s intention to reconsider the decentralisation of schools is causing alarm bells to ring. “It appears as if the crises for which the Department is largely responsible are now being attributed to the current devolution of financial powers to governing bodies of schools. If there are schools that do not pay their bills on time, the individual governing bodies should be held accountable, and not those of all schools. Many governing bodies’ payments are up to date, but there are problems with the GDE’s settlement of amounts owed. This was the case in the recent court case of AfriForum and Laerskool Wierdapark against the Metro in Tshwane.
“Schools that manage their financial affairs responsibly, should enjoy more autonomy, not less. The GDE must not be allowed to distort the facts about their own failures in such a manner that it becomes an excuse to lay claim to the budgets of successful schools,” she says.
