It’s a question of food or fees for needy parents

It’s 11am on a Thursday morning, and Siyolise sits quietly at the back of a dimly lit community hall in Turffontein in the south of Johannesburg. The 10-year-old lights up as he talks about geography and maths.

Then his smile fades and tears fill his eyes as he whispers: “I like school. I’m so sad that I can’t go. I read my social sciences book when I’m at home. I miss playing with the other kids.”

Siyolise should be in grade 5, but he isn’t because his mother can’t afford it.

He is among 200 children in the area identified by a local nonprofit organisation who are not enrolled in school. While some have been turned away because they do not have birth certificates, most parents say government schools in the area insist on a registration fee of between R1,000 and R2,000, which they cannot afford.

The Sunday Times spoke to these families.

Listening to Siyolise talk, his mom, Yoliswa, 40, an unemployed single mother, bursts into tears. After moving from the West Rand to Turffontein, she first approached schools in the area in July to secure a spot for her son for this year, but she was told to return in September, and then in November.

With Siyolise’s transfer documents in hand and his grade 4 report, Yoliswa was this year told by the schools that she needed to pay a compulsory R1,000 registration fee to secure her son’s place. She begged for a discount, even offering to pay the fee in instalments.

“The schools said they wanted the full amount up front. It’s killing me every day. I don’t sleep knowing he’s not in school. He tells me every day how much he wants to go to school, and I can see that he’s sad,” Yoliswa says.

Siyolise’s highest marks were the 96% he scored for life skills and social sciences. His lowest final marks were the 78% he achieved for Sesotho home language and English first additional language. 

In the other corner of the hall, Kholiswa sits quietly with her daughter Minentle, aged six. In 2019, Minentle had a seizure that left her deaf and non-verbal. When Kholiswa, 47, moved from Durban to Johannesburg in December, her husband abandoned her and their four kids. She works one day a week as a domestic worker, earning R300 a shift.

Kholiswa has been sent from pillar to post in search of schools for her other children, aged 18 and 11, while Minentle’s only option is a special needs school in Lenasia. The mainstream schools that can accommodate her other children are in Ormonde and Soweto, neither of which is within walking distance.

“I could use her grant money for transport, but then she won’t be able to eat ... I’d have to pay R600 a month for transport, R6,000 school fees a year, and R1,200 for registration,” Kholiswa says. 

With the help of an NGO, her 11-year-old will now attend a private school in the area, with Kholiswa paying R600 monthly and a R300 registration fee. But her 18-year-old is yet to be placed in a school.

“It’s killing me that they aren’t in school ... For us to eat, we rely on food parcels. Today their father brought a loaf of dry white bread, but my children often go to school without food. I don’t eat, [but] I don’t mind, I left the bread for my kids to eat. I just tell myself I’m not hungry. I would rather use the grant [money] to send my kids to school,” Kholiswa says.

The choice between food and fees is common among these parents.

One Turffontein mom not only has to choose between food and other basic needs, she also has to choose which of her two children she will send to school this year.

Single mother-of-three Thuliswa, 35, has already lost custody of her 10-year-old child. In her care are her five-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter. The former electrician said school fees were R800 a child each month, while the registration fee was R600 a child.

“I don’t have money to pay for both of them. My rent is R1,700 excluding electricity. My choice is between fees and food, and I don’t have a choice because I want my kids in school. I feel terrible. When he sees his sister going to school, he cries. He wants to go to school with her,” Thuliswa says.

Education rights group Equal Education said these admission challenges weren’t isolated. While they have been more prevalent in Gauteng and the Western Cape in recent years, other areas such as Polokwane and Buffalo City have had similar problems.

Equal Education researcher Kimberley Khumalo said the issue highlighted the gaps in the government's response to real-world complexities and its unwillingness to plan proactively.

“It has become increasingly clear that education departments do not have plans to ensure all prospective learners are rapidly allocated schools, and that admissions processes are not responsive to the socioeconomic climate,” Khumalo said. 

For Shaheda Omar, director of the Teddy Bear Foundation (TBF), a nonprofit organisation that assists and supports abused children, these stories are shocking, heartbreaking and widespread.

TBF social workers — which is familiar with the social ills in Turffontein, such as gangsterism, child trafficking and drug addiction — have learnt during their gender-based violence and food insecurity initiatives that hundreds of children in Turffontein are not attending school.

“As much as the department of basic education says it makes allowances for such learners, on the ground it’s not happening. For there to be [more than] 200 children not in school is a concern, and these are only the ones we know of. What we’re seeing here is a microcosm of what so many parents are facing,” Omar said. 

Resident Samantha, 32, has two children aged eight and six, both of whom have speech impairments. However, the two special needs schools in the area are full, and the alternative is a school in Lenasia.

“It’s not that we’re doing nothing — we are trying to make sure they don’t lose out because of our financial circumstances. It feels like I’m failing them, or that I’m not doing enough for them,” Samantha says. 

When the Sunday Times visited Christway Religious and Social Services, more than 10 parents spoke of how schools required payment of a compulsory registration fee. Two of the parents were foreign nationals whose children, while having been born in South Africa, did not have birth certificates and were therefore turned away from schools. 

Nyeleti, six, should be in grade R. Her brown eyes are bloodshot from crying. Since schools opened, she’s been waiting outside her home for transport to take her to school. 

“When she sees other children going to school, she cries [because] she wants to go to school,” says her grandmother, Joyce. “She stands outside every day waiting for the transport to come. She wakes up early, thinking that she’s going to school.”

Joyce, 70, is taking care of her three grandchildren, whose mother is a drug addict. She relies on social grants to support the three kids. All of them are of school-going age, but they are not in school.  

Joyce removes from a plastic sleeve a 2022 affidavit that states she has been Nyeleti’s legal guardian since 2021, when the girl’s father died and her mother abandoned her. But the absence of Nyeleti’s birth certificate is not the only issue preventing Joyce from enrolling her granddaughter in grade R.

“There’s no electricity where we’re staying. It’s a dark place — it’s a hijacked house. Nyeleti was supposed to start grade R this year, but I can’t afford it. She also doesn’t have a birth certificate, and her mother is never around to come with me so we can sort it out. It’s more about the money — we have nothing to eat. I would love for her to go to school,” Joyce says. 

Elize Baker, from Christway, said these cases were a “drop in the bucket”.

“It’s not that the parents haven’t done their utmost for their children. From our side as well, we’ve been doing everything we can for these children. It’s the system that’s failing them. They tell you no child can be turned away from a school, but in reality these children are being turned away.”

Social development spokesperson Lumka Oliphant said no child could be turned away from any government school because of a lack of documentation.

“When such a child seeks a service, they [should be] assisted while they apply for documentation. All children, whether South African or not, should not be turned away from service points without assistance because of lack of documentation.” 

The Sunday Times contacted some of the schools the parents had tried to enrol their children in. All said the registration fee was compulsory and ranged between R1,000 and R2,000, with school fees starting at R2,600 and going up to R6,000 a year.

However, the basic education department’s website states: “School fees may not include registration fees, administration or other fees.”

Education department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga confirmed that registration fees were not compulsory. He said the department was aware of cases where children were not enrolled in school.

“Most public schools [do not require parents to pay fees]. There’s no requirement for registration fees. Parents must bring their children to school. More than 80% of learners in public schools do not pay fees.”

Education expert Mary Metcalfe said the current quintile system was flawed because it assumed parents living in certain areas could afford to pay.

“The policy is that parents must pay fees at Model C schools, and the assumption is that everyone in that area can pay. However, this is not necessarily the case. Where parents cannot pay the fees, the policy provides a process for a parent to apply to the school governing body for an exemption, and it’s the responsibility of the SGB to report on their decision to the provincial education department, and for the parent to appeal to the provincial head of department. A registration fee would also be covered by this process,” Metcalfe said.

While the department placed the responsibility solely on parents, both Omar and Metcalfe said it was the government’s responsibility to ensure policies were implemented.

“Government is the overarching body, and it’s ultimately their responsibility to ensure every child gets the opportunity to be educated,” Omar said.

Metcalfe added: “It is incumbent on provincial departments to ensure fees are not an obstacle to attendance. There appears to be a failure in the implementation of the exemption policy. If this is happening in Gauteng, then it may be happening in other provinces.”