Durban — The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has qualified for a performance-based incentive of R109 million from the National Treasury after achieving an 80% final score.
Opposition parties in KZN were concerned as to how the money would be spent. According to the DOE, in order to qualify for an additional incentive, a government department needs to obtain a minimum score of 75%. By surpassing this threshold, the department will receive this incentive and it will be used in their 2023/2024 baseline budget.
The incentive amount will form part of the education infrastructure grant and will be confirmed by means of conditional grant final allocation letters. The province was requested to submit a list on Wednesday of projects with estimated budgets that will be funded from the incentive allocation to the National Treasury and National Department of Basic Education, said Education MEC Mbali Frazer.
DA MPL and KZN spokesperson on Education Dr Imran Keeka said that the DA could not agree that the DOE always managed things properly and that when one looked at their budget, it was in disarray.
Keeka said: “It is a department known to be corrupt and this was evident in the recent Special Investigating Unit report where an official was found guilty in court.”
Keeka said that the party had also asked for repeated audits of school accounts as that was where most corruption takes place. Keeka said that these audits and proper financial management did not adequately take place at this level.
“These funds could be most appropriately used to ensure that the department’s crumbling infrastructure is attended to as a matter of urgency,” said Keeka.
Keeka said there were more than five million textbooks that were in short supply in the province and this was more evident in the senior grades (high school).
A third area of concern for Keeka was scholar transport.
“We have seen deaths of many learners on our roads because of an unregulated industry and those learners need to be brought into a formal system. Any funding that is received can also be directed as a portion towards ensuring the safety of our learners,” Keeka said.
National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA CEO Thirona Moodley congratulated the department for their management of funds and hoped that it would be used well, especially with infrastructure.
“We know that the floods have caused disasters in schools and infrastructure leading to schools. So there is a dire need for an upliftment and upgrading of the infrastructure in the province,” said Moodley.
Moodley said there were schools that needed attention regarding their infrastructure prior to the provincial floods and that they had reported roof leaks, vandalism, and broken-down fences which had compromised school security.
“The department must really prioritise the most needy and vulnerable schools and, most importantly, security within schools because we have seen a huge surge in school violence and killings,” said Moodley.
EFF KZN spokesperson Mazwi Blose said the EFF welcomed the incentive and hoped that the money would be used to mitigate the challenges these schools faced.
Blose also urged the department to deal with maladministration and corruption from people who want to misuse the funds.
“Many of our schools still have pit toilets and some of the schools that were affected by the floods have no classrooms and electricity, water and various other infrastructure issues,” said Blose.
Blose said that there was a high school in KwaMaphumulo, Ilembe District that still had pupils who were subjected to inhumane conditions by having to use pit toilets. He said that in various KZN inland schools, children were still attending classes under trees.
Blose said: “Some of the schools in the province do not have laboratories and some of the classrooms are packed. They also do not have desks and chairs.”
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