MEC must ‘round up’ and discipline KZN principals guilty of withholding school reports over non-payment of fees

9 December 2019

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) calls on KZN Education MEC, Kwazi Mshengu to take swift and immediate action against principals in the province who are found to have withheld school reports due to the non-payment of fees.

The move comes after a recent media report which claims that a mother had to borrow money in order to pay for her children’s year-end report cards. This after the principal refused to hand over the results due to unpaid school fees.

This is not the first time that this has happened with the DA having received complaints from other parents this year and in the past. These principals are in direct contravention the South African Schools Act and they must be rounded up and dealt with appropriately by the Department.

The fact that schools are now closed for the year is merely exacerbating the issue and the DA urges parents who are affected to contact their local education district offices for assistance. Officials based at these offices are still working and they must assist parents. In the event that staff are unhelpful, parents may contact the DA and we will do everything in our power to help.

It is untenable that children should become the victims of such conduct by principals, for something which is completely beyond their own control.

The DA expects MEC Mshengu to deal with this ongoing issue and to take the necessary steps to ensure that this problem does not continue to crop up, year in and year out. The message needs to be loud and clear that such conduct will no longer be tolerated.

Issued by Imran Keeka, DA KZN Spokesperson on Education, 9 December 2019