Thapelo Molefe
The ANC-led Gauteng Department of Education has shifted the blame for school funding pressures to the DA-led national Department of Basic Education, accusing it of failing to provide relief while allowing what it called misinformation about provincial budget cuts to spread.
The unusually direct attack came as the department rejected claims that it had cut funding to Quintile 5 schools by 64%, saying the allegations were false and deliberately misleading.
Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane said the province was being unfairly scapegoated for implementing national funding norms under severe financial constraints imposed by National Treasury and overseen by the national department.
“It is dishonest to accuse provinces of cutting school funding while remaining silent about the national budget cuts imposed by National Treasury,” Chiloane said in a statement this week.
“The Department of Basic Education, under the leadership of the Democratic Alliance, is fully aware of the financial challenges confronting Gauteng and other provinces, yet these challenges remain unresolved.”
The department said no 64% funding cut had been implemented and stressed that an interim funding realignment process, effective from 1 April, was being misrepresented as a reduction.
The realignment aligns funding for certain Quintile 5 fee-paying schools with the National Norms and Standards for School Funding gazetted by the Department of Basic Education.
Schools were formally notified of the adjusted allocations in September 2025 through indicative budget certificates, the department said, arguing that the process was transparent and long communicated.
“This is not a budget cut but a correction of historical funding anomalies in some Quintile 5 schools,” the department said.
The GDE said it is grappling with a R444 million shortfall in the current financial year and a projected R160 million shortfall over the 2026 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period, pressures it attributes directly to national budget decisions.
Despite this, the department said it has protected classrooms and ensured continuity in teaching and learning.
“We have honoured Learning and Teaching Support Material payments in full and on time, and teaching and learning have continued uninterrupted,” the department said.
Chiloane accused the DA of political opportunism, saying the party was manufacturing outrage while ignoring its role in national policy and funding decisions.
“The sudden outrage being manufactured by the DA is disingenuous,” he said.
“Provinces cannot be blamed for implementing national policy under constrained budgets we do not control.”
He added that any petitions or protests over school funding should be directed at the national department.
“If there is a petition to be delivered, it should be delivered to the Department of Basic Education, which is responsible for national funding norms and allocations and which the DA itself leads,” Chiloane said.
The department warned that continued misinformation risks undermining confidence in the public schooling system and said the real issue remains the need for sustainable national funding solutions for education.
INSIDE EDUCATION
