Education Department violates learners’ right to basic education in Mpumalanga - SAHRC

19 March 2019

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has found that the Mpumalanga Department of Education has violated Section 29 of the Constitution, the right to basic education, by not providing learners with enough textbooks.

See SAHRC report here.

In October last year, the DA lodged a complaint with the SAHRC, after we found that there was a severe shortage of textbooks in Mpumalanga schools.

In its annual report for the 2017/18 financial year, the provincial Department of Education stated that 63% of learners had been provided with the required textbooks in all grades and in all subjects during this period.

The Auditor-General (A-G) however found this to be false because only 31.26% of learners had been provided with the required textbooks. This meant that 68.74% or 679 837 learners in Mpumalanga did not have all the required textbooks in the 2017/18 financial year.

To reach its finding, the SAHRC conducted surveys at various schools across the province and found that the shortage of Learner Teacher Support Material (LTSM) still exists in the 2019 academic year. This, despite the department insisting that all learners had all the required material.

The SAHRC requested the Education MEC, Sibusiso Malaza’s department to respond to these findings by 12 March 2019, but the Department ignored this request, just as they have ignored learners in Mpumalanga for many years. Although last week, the Department suspended its HOD, Mahlasedi Mhlabane on allegations of maladministration, after sustained pressure from the DA, this will not fix the situation learners find themselves in until each learner has all the required textbooks.

The DA will today deliver a member statement in the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature, calling on the Department to respond on why they have left Mpumalanga learners to fend for themselves despite the Education Department getting one of the biggest shares of the provincial budget.

By abandoning learners at such a crucial stage of their development, the Mpumalanga Department of Education is systematically killing the future of thousands of young people and ensuring that they too end up joining the ranks of the unemployed.

We will continue fighting for learners in Mpumalanga until each and every learner can be guaranteed a quality education in a safe school that have adequate sanitation facilities. No learner will be left behind in our mission to build One South Africa For All.

Issued by Jane Sithole, DA Mpumalanga Premier Candidate, 19 March 2019