Minister Motshekga confirms budget cuts will stall school infrastructure targets

26 November 2019

The Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, has admitted in a reply to a Democratic Alliance (DA) Parliamentary question that budget cuts will have a negative impact on the Department’s ability to meet infrastructure targets for Basic Education, stating that “the reduction will have a negative impact in terms of meeting the Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure”.

In addition to this, these cuts will further exacerbate the Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) failure to meet its own annual infrastructure goals to upgrade dilapidated schools through its Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI).

When asked how the DBE will ensure budget cuts allow for the continuation of infrastructure projects, Minister Motshekga responded by stating “provinces will have to revise their plans and delay planned projects that cannot be funded as a result of the cut”.

This is a clear indication of how the ANC’s mismanagement of the South African economy will now begin to affect generations of future learners, who will more than likely not be privy to the education infrastructure and development our young school-goers so desperately deserve. Budget cuts and stalled developmental projects don’t just symbolise a continued lack of infrastructure – it symbolises a continued lack of opportunities for learners.

The Minister’s response indicates that these budget cuts, no doubt a result of the strain our state-owned entities are placing on our fiscal position, will now impact on the DBE’s ability to complete infrastructure projects.

National Government continues to provide billions in bailouts to Eskom, SAA, Denel and the like, when they should be throwing billions into our education system.  There is no alternative way forward towards equality, prosperity and opportunity if we do not ensure our learners have access to the latest and best educational infrastructure.

To cut basic education budgets for infrastructural projects is tantamount to cutting a lifeline of hope, for learners whose only means to change their lives and better their circumstances, is, in fact, through their education.

Issued by Desiree Van Der Walt, DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Basic Education, 26 November 2019