By Charmaine Ndlela
Gauteng Education MEC Lebogang Maile has warned municipalities against cutting water and electricity to schools over disputed bills, saying service interruptions disrupt learning and place additional pressure on already struggling communities.
Maile’s warning follows complaints from school communities in Emfuleni, where parents, school governing body members and principals accused the municipality of threatening to disconnect schools over disputed municipal accounts, including at schools where they said meters had not been installed.
Speaking during a community engagement at Sebokeng Technical School Hall on Wednesday, Maile said municipalities should engage the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) before taking action.
“I don’t understand why a municipality would find it easy to switch off services at a school and disrupt schooling. We will write to Emfuleni on these matters,” Maile said.
The meeting, attended by parents, school leaders and stakeholders from Sebokeng, Bophelong and surrounding areas, formed part of the province’s It Takes a Village to Raise a Child programme, a two-month initiative aimed at strengthening direct interaction between government, education stakeholders and communities on challenges affecting schools.
Stakeholders at the meeting said some schools were being billed “arbitrarily” and were not receiving adequate explanations for municipal charges. They said threats of disconnection were worsening pressure on schools already grappling with overcrowding, ageing infrastructure and social challenges.
In May, Maile said schools in the province owed municipalities R583.9 million in debt older than 60 days by the end of March 2026, while municipalities had physically cut electricity to at least 36 schools and more than 500 schools had been flagged for some form of billing-related disconnection.
A written response previously tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature showed that 536 schools had experienced some form of billing-related disconnection in 2025, including 293 schools that were without services for at least 30 days and 16 schools that had water, electricity, waste and sewerage services disconnected simultaneously.
Maile said municipalities and the education department needed to work together to resolve billing disputes instead of resorting to service interruptions.
Community members also raised concerns about school infrastructure and overcrowding, calling for decommissioned schools in the area to be reopened to ease pressure on existing institutions.
Maile said the department was exploring several options to address overcrowding.
“The department [is] also looking at buying former missionary schools and renovating them as a measure of dealing with overcrowding in some parts of Gauteng,” he said.
Former Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Avril Phali also attended the event and encouraged the department to strengthen school sport programmes as a way of keeping young people away from crime and social ills.
Maile said the province was considering installing cameras in classrooms to help tackle bullying, crime and violence.
