R301 million spent on upgrading WC schools, so far

15 September 2023

In response to a Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary question, it has been revealed that the Department of Infrastructure (DOI) has in the past five months, spent R301 500 847.65 on upgrades, refurbishments, and repairs at schools throughout the province. This comes on top of the revelation that the Department of Infrastructure has also since April, spent R119 million on upgrading various health care facilities across the province.

So far, an impressive 231 projects have been undertaken at various schools, and include upgrades, repairs, and maintenance. Please find a full list of projects here.

The projects are allocated to sub-programmes funded by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) in terms of the Infrastructure Programme Management Plan (IPMP) with a total budget of R800 million. The WCED is the budget holder and allocates funds over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to the DOI and their other implementing agents.

The budget breakdown is as follows:
- Upgrades and Additions: R99,888,000
- Preventative (Scheduled) Maintenance: R686,000,000
- Hostel Maintenance: R5,000,000
- Corrective Maintenance: R10,000,000

MPP Matlhodi Maseko said: “The R301 million spent on upgrading schools in the past 5 months, come on top of the R1.2 billion back on track campaign, that was launched by the Western Cape Education Department earlier this year, all while the WC government continues to build more schools.

Our youth are very important, and they hold the key to the Western Cape’s future. The Democratic Alliance will continue to advocate for our schools to be upgraded, so that our youth can receive world-class education, right here in the Western Cape.”

Issued by Matlhodi Maseko, DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Infrastructure, 15 September 2023