Durban - Compounding its R80 billion school infrastructure backlog, the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department has had to suspend the construction of new schools and repairs to existing buildings because of its financial troubles.
At sites where construction will continue, it will be because the contractors have made an exception, and will only submit their invoices in March next year.
Negotiations with contractors are under way.
The latest set of data on school infrastructure released by the Basic Education Department revealed that only 24% of KZN schools had libraries, and that 2 122 of 5 859 schools had flush toilets. Pit toilets were being used at 3 099 schools.
While most schools are connected to the electricity grid, the rest rely on generators or solar power, or go without.
How the department will abide by the new norms and standards regulations for school infrastructure, in the face of its budget squeeze, remains to be seen.
The regulations, published in the Government Gazette in November last year, gave the government three years to provide all pupils with access to water, decent sanitation and electricity.
All nine provincial departments had submitted their norms and standards implementation plans to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, but these would only be made public once she had had a chance to go through them, national department spokesman Elijah Mhlanga said on Monday.
KZN Education Department spokesman Muzi Mahlambi had by on Monday afternoon not responded to requests for comment on how the infrastructure backlogs could be addressed, considering the department’s financial quandary.
The department expected to overshoot its budget by R1bn this financial year, and for that reason opted to suspend the building of schools.
About 87% of the department’s money is spent on paying its employees, and it slashed its infrastructure budget by R860 million to divert funds to salaries.
But suspending construction opens up the department to legal action by contractors, and will cost it even more money to hire security to guard building sites, if building material is stolen, or if the building work that has been done deteriorates.
The department contends that the root of its financial problems is in the wage agreements reached at a national level, dating from 2008, and for which it was never adequately funded by the Treasury.
The Mercury