It has taken an urgent ruling by the Gauteng Division of the High Court to restore electricity to Tshwane schools that had their power disconnected, disrupting learning due to outstanding fees owed to the municipality. The Democratic Alliance (DA) condemns this direct failure of governance by the MEC for the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE), Lebohang Maile, and MEC for the Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Jacob Mamabolo. We call for urgent action to resolve this crisis that is crippling schools across Gauteng.
The High Court order compelled the immediate restoration of electricity to affected schools and extended protection to other Gauteng public schools facing similar disconnections linked to unpaid municipal accounts by the provincial government. Schools cannot become victims of intergovernmental failures and financial mismanagement.
For years, the DA has warned that Gauteng schools are facing a growing utilities crisis. Many schools already struggle to pay electricity and water bills because of insufficient fund allocations for utilities, while others continue receiving exorbitant or disputed bills. These warnings fell on deaf ears, and now schools have become victims of intergovernmental failures and financial mismanagement.
The situation has now worsened to the point where teachers in some schools are struggling to print teaching materials, cannot use smartboards, and learners are left without access to basic sanitation because electricity and water bills remain unpaid.
This is an absolute disgrace and a clear failure of governance; a trend far too common in the Premier Panyaza Lesufi-led government. Under his leadership, there has been no coordination among the GDE, DID, COGTA and municipalities, compromising the delivery of quality education in Gauteng.
The DA reiterates its call for the immediate establishment of a permanent intergovernmental committee comprising these departments, the Provincial Treasury, and municipalities to coordinate, audit and resolve municipal billing and utilities disputes affecting schools across Gauteng. This committee must establish whether municipal bills are accurate, correct that meters are linked to schools and determine if underground leaks exist.
The DA has already requested the Public Protector to investigate the electricity disconnection and the failure to intervene by the concerned parties. We will also table questions to determine why rates and taxes were not paid, how much is owed in each municipality, how many schools have been affected, and what immediate steps are being taken to prevent further electricity or water disconnections.
Where the DA governs, there is proper coordination between provincial and local spheres of government to ensure that services are not disrupted in schools and other government facilities. This is the DA difference that has made our governance admirable and much sought by Gauteng residents who are tired of being taken for a ride by a government that thrives in failure.