Note to editors: Please find attached English soundbite by Sergio Isa Dos Santos MPL.
The continued delays by Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s government in building new schools are deepening overcrowding, stalling the eradication of asbestos in schools, and compromising the quality of education and learner safety across Gauteng.
This is despite Premier Lesufi’s repeated promises to build 18 new schools in his last three State of the Province Addresses (SOPAs).
A report recently tabled before the Gauteng Education Portfolio Committee highlights significant concerns regarding the delivery of school infrastructure. Of the schools planned under the Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BFI), only four are at the design stage, with one currently under construction and expected to be completed by February 2027. The remaining projects have been delayed, stalled, or disrupted due to contractor failures and procurement inefficiencies.
Former MEC Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane’s recent reply further confirms that only 12 brick-and-mortar schools have been constructed over the past five years, while the department has established 26 satellite schools using mobile classrooms, which have become a permanent substitute for real infrastructure, exposing the depth of the crisis.
These revelations were confirmed over the past weekend by the newly appointed MEC for Education, Lebogang Maile, who stated that some classrooms in Gauteng accommodate up to 70 learners per teacher, with some schools exceeding this ratio.
At the same time, the DA has discovered through its oversight work that 41 schools have been closed over the past decade, reducing capacity while learner numbers continue to rise. Meanwhile, the slow pace of eradicating asbestos schools persists despite the well-known health hazards they pose.
It is high time that Premier Lesufi’s minority government walk the talk and starts building the schools that are needed now, not later. Gauteng residents are tired of recycled promises. They want to see their children learning in safe, properly built schools that are fit for purpose.
Only the DA can end overcrowding, eradicate asbestos classrooms, and reduce the over-reliance on mobile classrooms through its proven rapid school infrastructure programme, backed by qualified contractors, strict timelines, and transparent delivery of properly built schools.