KZN Education Department faces financial crisis but secures approval to procure learning materials

Teacher unions and the KZN Parents Association have urged the national government to ensure that learning and teaching aren’t hampered in the KwaZulu-Natal province, following the financial woes that have resulted in uncertainty on the procurement of Learning and Teaching Support Materials (LTSM) for the 2026 school calendar.

It was recently revealed that the KZN Department of Education, which is under partial administration, needed a minimum of R3.4 billion as a short-term solution to its financial problems. However, KZN Treasury stated that R7 billion is required to stabilise the province, which inherited an issue of unfunded wage increases amounting to R80bn. 

The financial challenges have been compounded by years of underinvestment, budget cuts, ghost teachers, and poor decision-making, according to the government. 

It was stated that by March 2025, the KZN Department of Education had already overspent its budget and was now struggling to meet its financial obligations. The provincial government has already advanced R900 million to the Department of Education earlier this year.

The Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, this week convened an all-of-government meeting with deputy minister of Basic Education, Dr Reginah Mhaule, KZN premier, Thamsanqa Ntuli, the MEC for Education, Sipho Hlomuka, the MEC for Finance, Francois Rodgers, and senior officials from both national and provincial government to map out a recovery plan.

The parties agreed to prioritise safeguarding transfers to schools, particularly Quintile 1 to 3 schools serving the poorest learners, and protecting the delivery of teaching and learning materials to all schools, as well as ensuring the smooth rollout of examinations, and securing scholar transport.

It was noted that the Premier-chaired Rescue Team will drive recovery efforts in collaboration with the National Department of Basic Education and the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Treasury. The rescue team will ensure that the implementation of a provincial financial recovery plan for the KZN Education Department is on track.

Gwarube and Ntuli promised to negotiate with the National Treasury to bail out the provincial department.

Vee Gani, KZN Parents Association chairperson, urged the national Department of Education to intervene and get the provincial education back on track, even if it means placing it under administration.

“We need interventions, and they must come from the national level; the national department must take over to get education back on track. After all, it is actually a disaster. I speak on behalf of the parents, and that’s how parents feel. Every parent who has a child in the public school system is worried and disappointed,” Gani said.

He highlighted that the quality of education has been affected by a lack of resources in schools, such as personnel and textbooks. That, coupled with allegations of fraud, corruption, and nepotism within the school nutrition programme, all eat into the budget of the education department. 

There are clear signs that funds haven’t been managed properly, which has resulted in ‘us’ landing in this particular issue, and there is a lack of consequence management for those who are not doing their jobs properly, he stated. 

 “The education system in KZN is broken; in schools, there is no control. There is vandalism, the infrastructure is failing, buildings are crumbling, and some schools are without resources and educators. We are in 2025, yet most schools don’t have internet, which is fundamental to operations; some schools don’t have electricity,” Gani said.

He questioned how the government found so much money during the Covid-19 pandemic, and now there is no money when the education system is crumbling.

“We have been talking about the issue of ghost teachers for a long time, and measures should have been taken a long time ago. Trust has been eroded because our learners are being short-changed. Every parent who has a child in the public school system is worried and disappointed. 

“From our side, we have raised a number of issues with the department about financial mismanagement, fraud in schools, and the department came back and told us that they are understaffed. Even the very divisions meant to handle corruption and financial irregularities are understaffed, Gani said. 

“So, we never get resolutions to the issues tabled with the Department because it always comes down to ‘we have 500 schools and there are only three of us’. To a certain extent, we understand their situation because there is no staff there. There is a huge shortage of staff in the KZN Department of Education, which is impacting the education system,” he stated.

Gani said that School Governing Bodies must be strengthened because they are literally running the schools, particularly from a financial perspective.

“Many public schools are operating on very stringent conditions, with unemployment so high in the country, and parents not being able to pay school fees, resulting in more struggles for the schools. Any country that invests in education is investing in the future. If it doesn’t invest in education, then the country’s future is already at a disadvantage,” Gani said.

Thirona Moodley, chief executive of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA), called on Treasury and the Department of Education to act with urgency and transparency. 

She said education cannot be the casualty of fiscal mismanagement, as learners, parents, and educators deserve a firm commitment, backed by a clear funding plan and delivery timelines, to ensure that textbooks are in the hands of every learner before the new school year begins.

Nomarashiya Caluza, secretary-general of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu), urged the minister to conclude the engagements with the national Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, and President Cyril Ramaphosa so that funds can be made available.

“These financial challenges are not new; even in 2024, it was the same issue. These challenges resulted in Sadtu engaging the Department on the state of readiness for 2025/2026. Even the minister knows, because she was in KZN in 2024 when Sadtu had pickets throughout the province. We believe that her coming to the province should bring about solutions, not to interrogate, because everything is known,” Caluza said.

This is the time when teachers are expected to be planning for 2026, and without a signal of whether schools will have enough resources, it demoralises teachers, the management, and the school governing bodies, she said. 

Attention was also drawn to the dynamics and diversification of Basic Education as one of the factors eating into the limited budget.

On Wednesday, there was a public outcry after the KZN Treasury confirmed through a media statement that KZN Education does not have the required funds for the procurement of LTSM for the upcoming school year. 

However, on Thursday, during a joint media briefing by KZN Treasury and the KZN Education Department, Rodgers stated that the Education Department will now continue with its procurement, can proceed with the process of exams, and that the spring matric programme will also commence.

“There are substantial costs involved in these programmes, but we have identified what we believe are certain savings that can assist the Department of Education because it’s critical. We have also taken into account that additional funding will be forthcoming from national Treasury adjustments, and that the province also has some savings where we do their adjustment budgets,” Rodgers said.

He added that the narrative that’s out there that Treasury and Education, to a certain degree, feel nothing for ‘our’ children, and education could not be further from the truth. 

He highlighted that when there was a challenge with the norms and standards, it was the provincial education department, KZN Treasury, and the Premier who resolved it by availing R900 million to the department.

Hlomuka said the Department is ready for exams for all grades 1-12, and they are certain that all schools will have received the stationery when the schools reopen in January.

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