NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 39
DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 27/02/2012
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 02/2012)
Mr M J R de Villiers (DA-WC) to ask the Minister of Basic Education:
(1) Whether all schools under her department have paid all
charges owed for (a) rates, (b) taxes and (c) utilities
to the relevant local municipal authorities up to 31
January 2012; if not, (i) why not, (ii) what are the
total amounts outstanding, (iii) for how long are they
outstanding, (iv) when will her department settle the
arrears and (v) what are the reasons for falling behind
in payments; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) whether any financial procedures have been contravened; if
not, how was this conclusion reached; if so, what steps
has her department taken to address this problem? CW41E
Reply
1) (a), (b) As owner of the property, in accordance with Section 24 (1)
of the Municipal Property Rates Act of 2004, the payment of rates and
taxes is the responsibility of the Department of Public Works
(c) The payments by schools of their municipal accounts for utilities
are the responsibility of the provincial education departments. The
Department of Basic Education does not keep record of payments made by
schools in this regard.
2) Schools which have arrears on their municipal services accounts, and
have not appropriately utilised the funds which have been specifically
allocated to them for this, are failing to effectively execute the
function allocated to them in terms of the South African Schools Act
(Section 21 (d)) to pay for services rendered to the school. Where
occurrences of this nature are picked up, corrective action must be
initiated by the Provincial Education Department which may include the
withdrawal of the said function.