BUDGET
Eastern Cape fails to invest in schools
The provincial education department underspent its budget by R500m in 2016-17, says Angie Motshekga
The Eastern Cape education department, one of the worst-run in SA, underspent its budget by R500m in 2016-17, while the Western Cape, Limpopo and Gauteng overspent theirs. This was revealed by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga in Pretoria on Monday. The R500m figure could be much higher as separate documents seen by Business Day suggest the number could be as high as R900m. For years, the Eastern Cape has been beset by unsuitable school infrastructure, which has been partly blamed for the province’s poor performance in the national senior certificate. The Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo are home to most of the country’s poorest schools, which are often sub-par mud structures that lack basic necessities such as toilets and desks. This has been blamed for the provinces’ underperformance in the matric results over the years. Motshekga, who held a briefing to give an update on the outcomes of her meeting with the country’s education MECs, said rural provinces continued to...
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