Together with my counterpart at the National Council of Provinces, Delmaine Christians MP, we have agreed that a formal request be placed before the NCOP Chairperson for provinces to provide briefings on the status of education funding and key priorities moving forward. This comes as national government has continuously defunded education whilst persisting in the bailing-out of zombie state-owned entities, such as South African Airways to the amount of R10-billion.
Despite national government listing education as a key priority for frontline services, the special Covid-19 adjustment budget already decimated over 30% of the Education Infrastructure Grant in the Western Cape, which further reduces the Department’s ability to cater to the growing need for learner placement in the province.
The defunding of the infrastructure budget means the limitation of other critical programmes under the administration of the department, along with being challenged to accommodate the growth of learners in the province. As the Western Cape accommodates an average of 18 000 learners each year, the WCED requires 18 new schools just to keep up with current demand – never mind addressing the backlog for new spaces.
This situation stands to deteriorate as defunding of provinces is expected in the national Medium Term Budget Policy Statement. This will severely limit other programmes such as school feeding schemes, and in particularly place significant constrains on teaching and learning in the Western Cape.
Budget cuts can only be attributed to a suffering economy established through inadequate planning and the billions looted from public purse at a national level. It severely impacts on the performance of the department in their mission to provide quality education to every learner, which is a vital mandate of provincial governments per legislation.
It is increasingly clear that the opportunity cost of bailing out SOEs is the defunding of provincial shares and grants, and with education as a core competency of a provincial government, the cost extends to the future wellbeing of learners in the Western Cape.
