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Western Cape Finance MEC Deidré Baartman can stop the proposed haemorrhaging of teachers’ posts by reallocating less than 1% of the R84,3 billion 2025 provincial budget.

The Medium-Term Budget Policy statement she will deliver tomorrow is an opportunity for the province to return some of the money it has “borrowed” from its education budget, back to education, and demonstrate that it views education as a priority.

According to the Provincial Minister for Education his department needs R687.5 million to save 2407 teacher jobs for the 2025 school year. 

It would be indefensible for two reasons for the MEC for Finance to claim she is unable to reallocate less than 1% fraction of the budget to save teacher jobs and support improved access to education.

There is already an estimated shortage of  more than 30,000 teachers in the country, resulting in bigger classes and poorer education outcomes.

The Western Cape is only short of money to pay teachers because over the next three years it has chosen to divert R8 Billion of the money it receives from National Treasury for education, away from education.

Treasury calculates its allocations to provinces for education on the basis of the number of children at school (known as the equitable share), but leaves it in the hands of the provinces to spend the money wisely.

Spending R8 Billion of education’s money on discretionary projects and then claiming to be short of money for education is not wise spending; it’s downright dumb.

If provinces insist on taking dumb decisions Treasury must remove their right to choose how they want to spend their money, and make the education grant conditional – that is, it can only be spent on education.

Besides reallocating some of the “borrowed” education budget back to education, the Finance MEC would do well to announce a thorough assessment of the province’s spending on its Safety Plan.

The Province has already spent at least R2 billion (“borrowed” from education and health) on its Safety Plan since 2019, without coming close to achieving its key performance indicator: Reducing the number of murders. 

The current budget allocates another R5.08 billion to this farce over the next three years, while claiming a R3.8 billion shortfall for education.

Instead of continuing to pour money into a Safety Plan hole, the Finance MEC would demonstrate a good understanding of her portfolio and responsibilities by subjecting the programme to an audit of its return on investment.

Issued by Brett Herron, GOOD: Secretary-General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament