Burnt schools: R400m ‘should be monitored’
The DA has written to Department of Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, urging her department to take full responsibility of the allocated R400 million to repair the vandalised schools in Vuwani.
POLOKWANE – DA Provincial Spokesperson on Education, Jacques Smalle, said the DA is concerned that given their dismal track record, the Department of Education, under the helm of MEC Ishmael Kgetjepe, does not have the capacity to manage the budget and plans to repair the schools.
He said the department has constantly received the biggest share of the provincial budget but time and time again failed to improve the state of education in the province.
“In 2015 the Limpopo Department of Education was the worst performing education department nationally, and with four consecutive disclaimers from the Auditor General (AG), was also the worst performing department provincially. The Section 100 administration of the department failed to deliver any positive outcome and it is currently under an intervention by the Department of Treasury to prevent further systemic collapse,” Smalle said.
He added that in the 2013/14 financial year, the department failed to spend R1,7 billion and forfeited the amount to the Department of Treasury, including transgressing various financial mismanagement processes.
“The R997 million allocated to replace pit toilets at schools in Limpopo never materialised which proves that the Vuwani project is in jeopardy even before its commencement,” he said.
He said the department wasted a further R700 million during the 2014/15 financial year which was regarded as wasteful and fruitless expenditure by the AG due to non-compliance with supply chain management procedures as well as lack of record keeping and governance.
Smalle said: “The R80 million allocated by the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, to address the infrastructure backlog of schools in Limpopo is yet to be utilised despite the shocking and unacceptable state of many of our schools. The DA urges Minister Motshekga to closely monitor the progress of repairing and rebuilding Vuwani’s schools. Our learners’ futures are at stake and time is of the essence”.
Department of Education Spokesperson, Dr Naledzani Rasila, said he did not know where the DA got their information from that the department was allocated R400 million.
“Yes, the department needs R400 million to fix all the vandalised schools in Vuwani, however, to my knowledge, no money has been allocated as yet. The department has already spent R20 million to ensure education continues in Vuwani.
“The department will continue to provide for the children’s education in the province without any instruction from the DA,” Rasila concluded.
