Principals and governing bodies are fuming after the Limpopo education department asked schools to use money earmarked for running costs to pay for the stipends of education and general assistants.
In a circular to schools dated November 22, head of department Onica Dederen blamed the department’s failure to pay the stipends for November and December on the late tabling of the 2021/22 adjusted budget by finance minister Enoch Godongwana.
The education department has since tabled an adjusted budget, but schools still had to fund the November stipends.
The 38,429 education and general assistants are employed in the province as part of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI) that targets unemployed 18- to 35-year-olds.
During the first phase of the programme late last year, more than 320,000 education and general assistants were placed in schools countrywide at a cost of R4.47bn.
Dederen informed schools that the late tabling of the budget by Godongwana on November 11 “has a potential of compromising a number of programmes, among others, the PYEI”.
She said the Limpopo provincial legislature was yet to table the 2021/22 adjustment budget, “yet on the other hand, the education and general assistants are already in our schools from November 1”.
The duties of education assistants, among other things, include handing out workbooks, textbooks and worksheets to pupils, helping the teacher to photocopy question papers and managing pupil behaviour.
“These paraprofessionals, who are playing an important role in our schools, should receive their stipends on November 30.”
She asked schools to use the money they received for norms and standards funding to pay the stipends for November and December.
These staff members earn R3,779,27 a month.
The Schools’ Act does not allow schools to extend loans. Yet this is exactly what government officials are now expecting from schools.
— Jaco Deacon, CEO of the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools
Schools are expected to use their norms and standards funding to buy pupil-teacher support materials, such as textbooks and stationery, and pay their running costs.
Dederen said the department would reimburse schools for the stipends after the 2021/22 adjustment budget was tabled.
But Jaco Deacon, CEO of the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (Fedsas), said it should be an embarrassment to President Cyril Ramaphosa and basic education minister Angie Motshekga that Limpopo was managing its PYEI “so poorly”.
He said the Limpopo education department instructed principals to use their school’s funds to pay thousands of temporary young people, adding: “However, the department is the employer and not the schools.”
“The Schools’ Act does not allow schools to extend loans. Yet this is exactly what government officials are now expecting from schools. Schools are not banks and as it stands most schools do not have enough money to pay even basic expenses, such as water, electricity and textbooks, which is what the state subsidy is meant for.”
Deacon said Fedsas sent a letter to the basic education department in September with detailed suggestions on how to manage the PYEI.
“The implementation framework contains numerous legal discrepancies and mistakes, which can result in many potential issues in terms of labour legislation. Yet neither the national department nor the Limpopo education department properly responded to our letter,” he said.
Public schools were separate legal entities and the Schools’ Act empowered governing bodies to make certain payments, Deacon added.
“The SGB may not authorise any other payments, especially if these payments were not budgeted for.”
It is month-end and they are looking at you as the CEO of the school and they want to be paid. What do you do? We are in a dilemma. The department’s instruction is irregular
— Mashudu Ramulumo, president of the South African Principals’ Association in Limpopo
He said government officials were responsible for ensuring the stipulations of the Schools’ Act were adhered to.
The Limpopo education department was placing principals in an untenable situation, Deacon added.
“If they do not pay the state’s temporary workers, they are ignoring a direct instruction of their employer; if they do pay the temporary workers, they are disobeying the law.”
Mashudu Ramulumo, president of the South African Principals’ Association in Limpopo, said they told officials during a meeting on November 5 to tell the department to transfer the money for the education and general assistants on time.
“We said: ‘Please tell the head of department not to tamper with the norms and standards money’.”
One of the challenges, he said, was that some small schools could not afford to pay the education and general assistants from their norms and standards money.
“If they make use of their norms and standards, then their coffers will be empty.”
While principals were upset, they also “felt” for these workers, Ramulumo said.
“It is month-end and they are looking at you as the CEO of the school and they want to be paid. What do you do? We are in a dilemma. The department’s instruction is irregular.”
Matakanye Matakanya, general secretary of the National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB), said the department ought to have money because the financial year only ends in March.
“They cannot turn around and ask schools to pay; it’s wrong.”
Limpopo education department spokesperson Tidimalo Chuene said the adjustments budget was tabled by the provincial treasury on Tuesday.
“This now allows us to immediately proceed with processes of accessing funds and transferring them to schools for payment of stipends for the PYEI.”
She said the direction by the head of department “was deemed to be most ideal in averting an unfortunate situation that would have been caused by unforeseen circumstances with regard to a delay in the tabling of the adjustment budget”.
“We note the statement by [Fedsas] and believe there are issues that we can clarify more on the approach we have taken. We will engage with them on the matter through already established channels of communication with our social partners.”
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