KZN education in debt of more than R450m owed to municipalities

Within 10 months the KwaZulu-Natal education department accumulated a staggering R468m worth of debt, owed to municipalities for services such as water, electricity, sewage and refuse collection. 

KZN education is responsible for more than half of the R792m debt owed by government departments in the province for such services between April 2021 and January 2022. 

These figures were revealed in a series of written parliamentary replies by various government entities in the province. 

The DA in KZN raised the alarm regarding the department’s poor management of funds. 

According to DA spokesperson on education Dr Imran Keeka, despite the enormous debt the department recently returned unused funds to the provincial treasury.

“To aggravate the situation, the recent budget close-out report showed that the department had areas of under-expenditure, with the result that funds were returned to provincial treasury. These funds should have been redirected, according to proper PFMA [Public Finance Management Act] guidelines. In particular, they could have been used to pay outstanding domestic accounts of the numerous schools.”  

Keeka said he was aware of least two schools which had been disconnected because of unpaid debt. 

“I visited two schools the week before last. Phoenix schools that were previously disconnected have been reconnected,” he said. 

eThekwini is the most owed at R372m, followed by Umsunduzi, R44.3m, Umgungundlovu, R15.8m and Ugu, R7.5m. 

The KZN department of education did not respond to queries at the time of publication.

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.