State capture in a new, more sophisticated guise and restrictions on teachers’ and schools’ choice to purchase suitable textbooks are among the latest information emerging from the department of education’s school textbook scandal.
The lead-up began in 2024, and a political analyst warns of political pitfalls for the DA minister involved.
Publishers and other role players in the education industry who spoke to Die Papier this week, pointed out that this involves more than a suddenly established company, Lighthouse Publishers (LP), receiving the largest share of R285 million in a R1.6 billion tender for school textbooks for grades one to three.
According to insiders, the tender regulations were initially adapted so that a quantity of cheaper textbooks had to be procured. This conveniently suits the Lighthouse portfolio.
The department of basic education is now forcing provincial education departments to make more than a third of their purchases from cheaper textbooks, and thus mainly from LP’s stock – the “new dimension of state capture”.
Moreover, teachers and schools could previously choose from up to eight textbook options. These were developed and proposed by experts from the educational environment and placed on the procurement list after approval. Suddenly, the list now has only one to three mandatory titles.
Section 21 schools, the so-called former model C schools, have always had wider choice because they could purchase independently. However, it remains unclear whether they will now also be forced into the one-sided offering like section 20 schools – ordinary public schools.
Warning about teachers
Paul Sauer, executive head of the South African Teachers’ Union (SAOU), yesterday warned against undermining teachers’ autonomy to be involved in choosing textbooks they consider suitable for the curriculum.
According to Sauer, this will contribute to the serious deterioration of quality education. The education system is already under pressure due to insufficient funding and teachers. He welcomed that Siviwe Gwarube, the education minister, moved quickly to have the matter investigated by the treasury.
Hannes Grobler, an independent developer of educational materials for schools, believes the “draconian manipulation” of the tender in question has a devastating effect on the entire quality education ecosystem.
His colleague, Edwin Solomon, wants to know what quality control exists over LP’s so-called cheaper material and whether it has ever existed.
This will badly affect quality developers and publishers, as well as children in the foundation phase, who according to research still cannot read or write when they reach grade four, he believes.
Started in 2024
The school textbook scandal began in 2024 when the department of basic education (DBE) issued an invitation to publishers to submit learning and teaching support material (LTSM) for the National Catalogue for the Foundation Phase (grades 1-3).
The formal submission period closed – according to one publisher – on 5 July 2024. The material was then evaluated by the DBE and publishers were notified on 6 March 2025 that their books were “provisionally approved”, but that certain revisions had to be made.
Some publishers were asked to create additional titles. The deadline for this was August 2025.
Two publishers confirmed to Die Papier that the revised and additional material had to be created under great time pressure.
Five copies of each title had to be provided to the DBE for the next round of evaluation. All these costs had to be borne by the publishers – in some cases millions of rand were spent on this.
The DBE finally only announced a list of approved books and publishers on 8 April this year – almost two years after submissions were requested.
To their shock, they had to discover that none of their material was accepted, but that Lighthouse Publishers, a publisher that apparently exists only on paper, would supply 1 707 of the titles.
Jaco Deacon, executive head of the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools, emphasises that everything also concerns value for money.
According to School Realities 2025, there are 3 745 277 learners in grades one to three. If the tender value is R1.6 billion, it amounts to approximately R427 per learner for textbooks.
This still raises questions about the overall value delivered to the system.
DA ministers’ problem
Roland Henwood, political scientist at the University of Pretoria, believes the saga shows that the DA’s pursuit of good governance in the cabinet will increasingly pose challenges.
It is a mainly bureaucratic environment of deployed cadres and politicians who are historically openly pro-ANC and anti-DA. He points out that Gwarube (39) has already complained publicly that she is being undermined by some officials in her department.
It is clear that they serve their own interests and party interests rather than the country’s interests.
President Cyril Ramaphosa (72) gives no support to ministers, especially not those from the DA. The ministers are accountable for their departments but are exposed and will have to act extremely correctly and strongly if they want to survive these attacks.
Read about the full scandal in this weeks edition of Die Papier.
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