A R35,1 billion closing balance of irregular expenditure remained unresolved across South Africa’s basic education sector, raising questions about financial controls, accountability and effective use of public funds.
The figure reflects accumulated irregular expenditure still on the books, rather than spending incurred during the latest reporting period. The backlog and persistent audit findings came under scrutiny when the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) briefed Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on Friday (9 October) on the audit outcomes of the national Department of Basic Education (DBE), its entities and the nine provincial education departments (PEDs).
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Despite several unqualified audit opinions, recurring weaknesses in procurement, performance reporting and consequence-management remain. At provincial level KwaZulu-Natal improved to an unqualified opinion with findings, bringing the number of provinces with this outcome to seven. Mpumalanga and North West remained qualified. Each of the nine provincial education departments had significant audit findings, enough information to report on their performance and achievements.
ECD data and spending under scrutiny
Early-childhood development (ECD) emerged as a key concern, with the DBE unable to provide accurate, complete supporting evidence for two ECD-performance indicators.
The department said it had inherited a lack of credible data when it took responsibility for ECD over about two years ago. It was working with the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation to improve its systems, including commissioning census data and introducing an electronic system to replace spreadsheets.
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The AGSA identified ECD-data management as a major weakness, saying systems needed to validate information about children and centres, identify beneficiaries, verify reported results and strengthen oversight of spending.
Procurement delays also stalled an ECD pilot in the Eastern Cape involving nutrition and learning and teaching support materials for children aged zero to 4. The DBE said the tender had not been concluded on time and provincial participation in the process contributed to the delay. About R600 million had been retained for the pilot.
The department was also engaging National Treasury over provincial underspending on new ECD infrastructure funding, with the aim of accelerating spending or redirecting funds within ECD.
Infrastructure failures and accountability
School-infrastructure findings added to concerns about whether education funding is being used effectively. Of 22 audited projects, 95% had findings, 59% experienced delays averaging 32 months and 27% had poor build quality.
Committee members questioned why more than R200 million in infrastructure funding had been returned by the DBE despite approximately R100 million in accruals and payables. The department attributed the return to late invoices from implementing agents.
Members also raised concerns about financial losses, duplicated projects and tender documents under investigation. The committee chairperson cautioned that irregular expenditure alone did not prove theft and that allegations required evidence.
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The DBE said its investigation into the national catalogue found no fraud or irregularity but identified the absence of a governing policy. Limpopo undertook to conclude an investigation into learner-transport tender documents within two months. The Western Cape said it had updated its delegation framework after infrastructure orders were classified as irregular because approvals had been granted at the wrong authority level.
The AGSA recommended detailed corrective action plans, individual accountability, measurable deadlines and stronger oversight by internal audit units and audit committees.
The committee directed the DBE to provide written reasons and timelines for delays in modernising the South African School Administration and Management System (SA-SAMS), and requested further information about affected schools and infrastructure spending.
