2025-w210 - 19 February 2025

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has advised as follows:

The DBE is only aware of outstanding transfers to public schools by KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Northern Cape (NC), as depicted in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Transfers to public schools as at February 2025

The DBE has the following measures in place to monitor, among others, the transfers to public schools by the dates as specified in the Norms and Standards for School Funding:

• Quarterly HEDCOM Sub-Committee on Finance meetings;
• Telephonic and physical visits to schools;
• Bilateral Budget Standard Exercise meetings with Provincial Education Departments (PEDs); and
• Bilateral Provincial Budget Monitoring meetings with PEDs.

2. The two PEDs (KZN and NC) have indicated that they are experiencing cash flow problems, which are hampering the processing of payments, including transfers to public schools.

The DBE had bilateral Budget Standard Exercise meetings with all PEDs during January 2025. In respect of KZN and NC, the meetings were held on the 22 January 2025 and 23 January 2025, respectively, where this issue was also discussed. KZN has undertaken that it will continue to engage with their Provincial Treasury for a solution to the cash flow issue. The NC indicated at the said meeting that a portion of the outstanding amount to schools was transferred on 15 January 2025 to section 21 public schools to assist with the necessary learning and teaching support material purchases. KZN and the NC will be further engaged by the DBE for granular details in this regard.

3. The DBE cannot provide a date at this point, as this is a provincial competency. However, the DBE is continuously following up with the PEDs regarding progress with the transfers to public schools.

4. The DBE will continue with the monitoring of the budget and expenditure trends of the two PEDs in question and advise accordingly. The DBE remains committed to ensuring that public schools, especially those in impoverished areas, receive their due allocations timeously and that financial management at the provincial level aligns with national education priorities. Failure to comply with these requirements will warrant further intervention to protect the interests of learners and educators.