The Eastern Cape education department’s appalling financial situation has meant its school building programme has all but come to a halt.
Only a few projects will continue in the current and following financial years, meaning the much-touted programme aimed at eradicating mud and rundown schools in the province will be nowhere near completion in the foreseeable future.
Despite government emphasising the importance of proper school infrastructure in education, the reality is the department is too broke to do anything about it, at least in the short term.
DispatchLIVE is in possession of a suspension letter drafted by one of the department’s implementing agents, the Coega Development Corporation (CDC), which notifies service providers of the immediate suspension of building projects.
The letter, dated January 25, cites “serious” difficulties in CDC securing the requisite programme funds from the department of education to continue the building of schools.
It also notes how Covid-19 emergencies may have attributed to funding difficulties.
“Following various interactions and correspondence with ECDoE (Eastern Cape department of education), the CDC has since received a formal communication from the ECDoE confirming that very limited budget is available to proceed with the projects this financial year,” the letter said.
The correspondence said only three projects implemented by CDC had been allowed to proceed, “and presumably this will continue being the case during the 2021/2022 financial year”.
DispatchLIVE understands that the CDC is the implementing agent for 27 building projects across the province.
However, when Ayanda Vilakazi, the CDC’s head of marketing and communications, was asked to confirm the number of service providers and schools affected by the suspension, he said: “Correspondences between the CDC and its service providers are private matters due to the contractual nature of the relationship with our service providers.
“Insofar as the supposed content contained in the correspondence, please contact ECDoE directly for any commentary on the Schools Building Programme as they would be in a better position to shed light on any delays regarding payments or related funding.”
Education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima confirmed letters of suspension had been issued to all implementing agents.
“The department has taken a conscious decision of limiting the financial burden to the state as a result of overcommitments exacerbated by the impact due to the [Covid-19] pandemic,” he said.
He said criteria set between the department and implementing agents would determine the number of projects able to continue while others would be deferred to outer years for completion “when” funding was available.
Mtima also did not give an indication on the number of schools which would be affected by the suspended programme, but said they were spread across the province and under management of various implementing agents.
“The provincial budget of R1.5bn was revised down, after the cuts and reprioritisation, to R1.1bn due to Covid-19 intervention and this changed original allocations.
“The department has an indicative budget of R1.6bn but this will only be confirmed by Treasury.
“It is however our hope that no further cuts will be experienced as this has exacerbated the current situation of work suspensions,” Mtima said.
A service provider, who spoke to DispatchLIVE anonymously for fear of being victimised, said he was already owed R1.3m by the department and he had last been paid in April 2020.
The service provider said there were 27 schools under the CDC’s implementation programme, including early childhood development centres, which would be negatively affected by the suspension of the project.
He said his project was 95% complete and if worked stopped, the school would be subjected to vandalism.
The service provider said he had struggled to receive payment, even before Covid-19.
During the pandemic “money was depleted because the department spent it on PPE”, he said.
The Public Servants Association’s Thami Makuzeni said: “The decision implies there will be no further developments of schools infrastructure when there is a serious need for additional infrastructure like additional classrooms, toilets, libraries and computer and science laboratories.”
DA MPL Yusuf Cassim said the DA had long warned this situation would arise due to the “chronic mismanagement of the infrastructure programme in the department”.
“Not only will this hurt financially as penalty and interest costs from contractors mount together with site standing costs, our learners will be hardest hit as they will remain trapped in unsafe temporary structures,” Cassim said.
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