The Minister of Finance tabled the Adjustments Appropriation Bill during the tabling of the 2023 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) on 1 November 2023. The Standing Committee on Appropriations (SCOA) is in the process of soliciting inputs from various departments affected by the Bill, and the DBE, along with the Education MECs for the Free State, Eastern Cape, Kwa-Zulu-Natal and Limpopo Provinces, were subsequently invited to brief the Committee on 29 November 2023.

The request was to appraise the Committee on the service delivery implications of the proposed R1.9 billion reduction on the Planning, Information and Assessment programme to understand the implications on education and school infrastructure, particularly in rural provinces. The request included a report on the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI) in the provinces, as well as a project plan on how the Department plans to utilise the proposed rollover funds to complete the outstanding ASIDI initiative in the provinces utilising the Education Infrastructure Grant (EIG).

School infrastructure backlogs have been considerably reduced over the past ten years, but many school environments are still not conducive to learning. The DBE has committed itself to eradicating 496 inappropriate structures, providing basic water to 1,257 schools, providing basic sanitation to 868 schools and providing electricity to 878 schools during the 2022/23 financial year. The purpose of the Education Infrastructure Grant (EIG) is to provide water, sanitation and electricity to schools, construction, maintenance, upgrading and rehabilitation of new and existing infrastructure in education; to address achievement of the targets set out in the Minimum Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure, as well as address damages to school infrastructure. The Grant further provides funding for additional classrooms to address overcrowding.

The DBE delegation, led by Basic Education Deputy Minister, Dr Reginah Mhaule, Director-General, Mr Mathanzima Mweli, CFO, Mr Pat Khunou and Acting DDG for Infrastructure, Ms Tsholofelo Diale, gave an overview of the delivery of school infrastructure, the adjustments and project plan for the rollover, as well as challenges experienced in respect of Implementing Agents and Business Forums during the 3,536 construction site visits that have been undertaken. DG Mweli explained that, “the original 3,898 schools identified for the Sanitation Appropriate for Education (SAFE) initiative have been dealt with since 2018; however, new schools were identified during monitoring visits. We are pushing implementing agents to complete the remaining 700 sanitation facilities within the current financial year, using dry sanitation solutions in water-scarce areas. The two remaining mud schools in the Free State province built with inappropriate structures, will also be completed before the end of December 2023. In addition, challenges are also faced due to urban migration, adding to overcrowding”.

Provinces agreed that the reduction will exacerbate the sectors' ability to meet its annual infrastructure goals to provide new schools, maintain, upgrade and rehabilitate dilapidated schools, compromising the learning and teaching environment. Many committed projects exist where contractors have been appointed and are on site. A budget reduction might result in the inability to honour those contracts, which might lead to interest charges being levied on the sector by service providers. Any reduction will finally lead to a significant number of projects in planning, design and procurement stages being delayed and or stopped. The departments will not meet their job creation and SMME development targets and are likely to have higher accruals which will have a ripple effect on the 2025/26 budgets. Reductions might also lead to service delivery protests by community members.

In conclusion, Deputy Minister Mhaule thanked the Committee for the opportunity to discuss solutions to increase the basic functionality of South African schools to ensure that, every school has the necessary learners, teachers, classrooms, laboratories, libraries and sporting facilities to meet education needs within communities. “These will, in turn, also benefit the mass skilling and employment of youth within the building industry. Functional schools will also contribute to the successful implementation of the Three Stream Model and kindling the skills revolution towards the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.”