EAST LONDON – Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube has issued a stern warning to provinces that underspend their budgets, saying it is hindering critical infrastructure development in schools.
While provinces such as the Eastern Cape have built 105 schools over the past five years, Gwarube said far more still needs to be done, particularly in schools facing overcrowding, pit latrine toilets, and dilapidated infrastructure.
“I am going to be incredibly hard on provinces on any underspending on infrastructure. There cannot be a single province that can say they are underspending when the infrastructure challenges are this immense,” Gwarube said.
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She said the department faces a national infrastructure deficit of R120-billion.
“Each and every province has to spend exactly what they are allocated,” the minister said.
Gwarube added that although provinces such as the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, which were hard hit by natural disasters last year, received additional funding through adjustment budgets, pit toilets remain in many schools.
“I’m absolutely adamant that these conditions need to be eradicated,” she said.