12,000 vacant teaching, admin posts in KZN Department of Education impacting on operations
KZN's Department of Education
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Close to 12 000 posts in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education are vacant and this is having a negative impact on its operations.
The posts are across all levels, including teachers and administration offices. The department warned that its district offices, which are the centre of departmental operations, are feeling the pressure as a result of these vacancies.
These revelations were made when the department appeared before the portfolio committee on education yesterday. The members of the committee were briefed on the state of finances in the department, with the provincial treasury revealing that the department has close to R3 billion in outstanding financial obligations that it cannot pay.
Its financial position could deteriorate even further in the coming months, and there are concerns that there are outstanding financial commitments yet to be identified by the provincial treasury.
During the briefing, the provincial treasury informed members of the committee about the Section 18 intervention by the Treasury, which directs that the department needs treasury permission to spend any money outside of grants or R50 000 in emergency spending.
The officials from the treasury detailed the extent of the outstanding commitments, stating that the department has prior year unpaid commitments of R508 million. Accruals and payables amount to approximately R656 million, though the figure could be much higher because they have recently discovered other information suggesting that the infrastructure costs could increase.
It has about R900m in payments that have not been released in the BAS (Basic Accounting System).
“This is payment that has been approved, but just cannot be paid because the department has no money in the account.”
It has about R1.2bn in Learning and Teaching Support Material (LTSM) requirements, which include a transfer of about R480m to schools, as well as R730m for central procurement, according to treasury officials. The department has been granted authority to incur expenditure related to the preparation of exams and the provision of materials to schools.
“The department has negotiated with service providers to delay payment. However, there is a risk that the department will double its accruals and payables by the year-end,” warned the official.
The CFO of the department, Yali Joyi, said they are enforcing cost-cutting measures to manage over-expenditure from previous years. Among the changes they are implementing is freezing the posts that have become vacant as a result of attrition.
It also emerged that the department currently has more than 12 000 posts at all levels that are vacant, while there are more than 2 000 posts filled that the department cannot afford.
“The slow or non-filling of posts assists with the slowing down of expenditure. This is affecting the operations of the department, not only at school level but at administration level because if we go to all our districts, it is affecting learning due to the huge number of vacant posts that are currently being experienced,” she said.
She added that if the department can get some cash injection, it will definitely ease the current financial pressure.
Head of the department, Nathi Ngcobo, added that the department was working on learner and employee verification, saying the process has been completed, and the analysis is now taking place.