South Africa news: Millions in Critical Education Funds Unspent, Leaving Hungry Children and Failing Infrastructure in its Wake. Image for illustration purposes only, generated with AI.
An investigation has revealed that seven provincial education departments failed to spend nearly R150 million in allocated grants intended for essential programs, including school meals, early childhood development, and maths and science support. The underspending has been described as “egregious” and “heartbreaking,” with severe consequences for the nation’s most vulnerable learners.
The largest portion of the unspent funds, approximately R70 million, was in Limpopo. Of that, over R33 million was earmarked for the National School Nutrition Programme. This financial shortfall translates to an estimated 6.5 million meals that never reached schoolchildren in one of South Africa’s poorest provinces.
“This is quite egregious,” said Tshidi Lencoasa, Chairperson of the Budget Justice Coalition, in an interview. “We’re really concerned… this happens in a context where there’s rising malnutrition in the country.”
Lencoasa highlighted reports from the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal of children dying from malnutrition, making the failure to spend on proven interventions like the school nutrition program even more devastating.
According to the report, the underspending is attributed to significant capacity issues within the provincial departments. Limpopo and the Eastern Cape were named as the biggest culprits, with the problems stemming from high vacancy rates, poor planning, and inadequate procurement processes.
“The human cost of that is incredibly high,” Lencoasa stated. She explained that austerity measures and budget cuts have constrained the departments’ ability to hire and retain the necessary staff to implement the programs effectively. “We actually don’t have enough staff… which means that even if we do want accountability, the position that is supposed to be spending all of this money is not filled.”
The chairperson emphasized that this is not a victimless administrative failure. She pointed to the irreversible impact on early childhood development (ECD), where unspent funds for infrastructure and training condemn children in poor areas to delayed cognitive development.
“Are we condemning children in poor areas to delayed cognitive development? Something that that potentially is irreversible?” the interviewer asked.
“Absolutely,” Lencoasa responded. “I think it is the ordinary children, especially those in the poorer provinces, who are bearing the cost.”
While an extra R10 billion was allocated to ECD in the national budget this year, a move hailed as a breakthrough, the underspending undermines this progress. Lencoasa called for a renewed focus on building provincial capacity and implementing strict accountability measures.
“We’re really in an era as a country where we’re demanding more from our governments,” she said. “It’s not enough to hear stories that oh this bad thing happened. We want to know what do we need to do to ensure that this never happens again, especially in this context of rising malnutrition.”
The Budget Justice Coalition is advocating for the government to use the upcoming budget speech to address these systemic failures, ensuring that funds are not simply reallocated away from critical social programs but are instead backed by the political will and administrative capacity to reach the children who need them most.
[ad_1]
Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.
[ad_2]
