Is the new GDE squashing incidents in school?

Something has changed inside the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE), and it is becoming harder to ignore.

In recent years, those living in Gauteng could largely rely on the department to issue proactive statements or comment when serious incidents happened at schools.

Fires, stabbings, bullying allegations, infrastructure failures, protests or safety concerns would often trigger detailed explanations from the department before reporters or parents even asked what had happened.

Now, the communication pipeline appears to have gone quiet.

Since Lebogang Maile’s appointment as Gauteng MEC for Education in April 2026, the GDE’s communication style has noticeably shifted.

While the department still hosts media briefings and stakeholder engagements, the reactive, incident-based communication that once characterised the department appears to have slowed dramatically.

Silence where there was once urgency

The only major proactive incident-related media advisory issued by the department shortly after Maile took office concerned a fire at Riverlea Secondary School.

The advisory read: “Gauteng MEC for Education, Lebogang Maile, will on Wednesday, 8 April 2026, visit Riverlea Secondary School following a devastating fire incident that took place on Tuesday, 7 April 2026, and destroyed an entire classroom block at the school.”

That statement reflected the type of urgent communication the public had become accustomed to from the GDE in previous years.

But afterwards, the tone changed.

Most communication from the department now focuses on broad governance matters, stakeholder engagements, and policy briefings rather than on school-ground incidents that directly affect students, teachers, and parents.

There is nothing wrong with those engagements. In fact, they are necessary. But they cannot replace transparent communication about incidents unfolding inside schools.

Is the department hiding something?

The shift became even more noticeable after the departure of the GDE’s previous spokesperson in late April 2026.

Since then, several enquiries sent by The Citizen have gone unanswered or unacknowledged entirely. This was unusual for a department that had historically maintained relatively good communication with the media and public, especially during crises.

One example was our enquiry into reports of recent unrest at a Johannesburg school. It was not gossip. It was a legitimate enquiry tied to alleged disruptions at a public school. Yet, we received no response.

The role of the media is not to embarrass departments. It is to inform the public. And when communication dries up, suspicion naturally grows.

Are incidents being squashed by the department? Are they being handled internally without public transparency? Is the department attempting to control narratives more tightly? Or is this simply a breakdown in communication structures during a transition in leadership?

Right now, there are more questions than answers.

This was evident even as I was writing this. When I reached out to the department for their take on the many questions swirling around it at the moment, I was met with radio silence.

That silence speaks loudly.

Public accountability cannot become selective

Schools are public institutions. What happens inside them matters deeply to communities.

When incidents occur at schools, whether they involve violence, bullying, infrastructure collapse, fires or service delivery failures, the public deserves timely information. Parents deserve reassurance. Communities deserve transparency.

A government department does not communicate only when it is convenient or politically favourable.

The GDE remains one of the most scrutinised departments in South Africa because education affects millions of people daily. That scrutiny will not disappear because communication dries up.

If anything, silence creates more attention.

The department still has an opportunity to rebuild trust through consistency, responsiveness, and transparency. But that requires acknowledging the current communication gap instead of pretending it does not exist.

Because when even journalists stop receiving answers, the public does too.