Note to Editors: Please find Sakhile Mngadi, MPL sound bites in English and isiZulu
The DA in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is deeply alarmed by the threat of 19 000 teaching posts being lost in the province due to severe budget constraints.
The looming crisis – announced earlier this week by Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana – has placed KZN’s entire education system at risk and is a direct consequence of the former ANC government’s fiscal mismanagement and misplaced priorities.
During the 2025/26 financial year, KZN’s Department of Education (DoE) was allocated R65 834 billion – a nominal 4.5% increase from the previous year. However, this increment is grossly insufficient to address the department’s escalating costs.
Alarmingly, more than 80% of the DoE’s budget is consumed by personnel salaries, leaving a meagre 7% (approximately R4 237 billion) for operational expenses and critical infrastructure projects. This overwhelming focus on salaries has severely hampered the ability to invest in critical resources for schools across our province.
The repercussions of this budgetary imbalance are stark. Since the 2021/2022 financial year, the DoE has had to cut 4 231 posts, with 8 690 positions remaining vacant as of December 2024. Despite these cuts, a projected overspend of R1.4 billion looms for the 2025 financial year, primarily due to unchecked salary costs.
The DA has consistently advocated for the protection of frontline education services. We have also repeatedly called for national government to fully fund wage agreements to prevent provinces from bearing undue financial burdens.
The current crisis, where provinces such as KZN now face the potential loss of thousands of teaching positions, is a testament to the former ANC government’s failure to heed these warnings. In addition to holding the ANC accountable for its budgetary neglect, the DA is taking proactive steps to address the underlying issues that have led to this crisis.
To mitigate these challenges and ensure that our schools are better equipped to function efficiently, the DA will soon submit a new Schools Evaluation Authority Bill which will seek to:
– Establish a dedicated body to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of spending within schools, particularly regarding the allocation of funds for personnel, infrastructure and educational materials;
– Enhance accountability within the DoE, ensuring that resources are directed where they are most needed – in our classrooms – rather than being siphoned off by inefficient administrative processes or wasteful expenditures;
– Provide for greater transparency in how budgets are allocated and used at provincial and district levels, ensuring that schools are adequately resourced to deliver quality education despite budgetary constraints and;
– Implement robust oversight measures to prevent future shortfalls in critical areas such as teacher recruitment and retention, thereby protecting vital teaching positions that are central to our children’s education.
To mitigate the current crisis, the DA also proposes the following solutions;
– A comprehensive audit of expenditures to identify and eliminate DoE wasteful and irregular expenditures
– Prioritisation of frontline services with the reallocation of resources from non-essential projects and administrative overheads in order to safeguard teaching positions and essential educational services and;
– Long-term fiscal planning through the development and implementation of sustainable financial strategies that prioritise education and other critical public services to prevent such crises in future.
As part of KZN’s Government of Provincial Unity (GPU), the DA remains steadfast in its commitment to ensuring that every child in our province receives a quality education. We will continue to hold government accountable and advocate for policies that place the future of our learners at the forefront.