Note to Editors: Attached please find a soundbite in English here by DA Shadow MEC for Education, Sergio Isa Dos Santos MPL.
The Gauteng MEC for Education Lebogang Maile’s warning and threat of legal action against municipalities disconnecting water and electricity at Gauteng schools will not fix a crisis that has been years in the making. Unless the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) addresses the systemic failures behind these disconnections, schools will continue to be caught in the crossfire between provincial departments and municipalities.
The DA has been warning about this crisis for years. One of the fundamental failures was former Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane’s decision to decentralise responsibility for municipal services to schools, including no-fee schools. These schools do not receive sufficient funding to keep pace with increasing municipal tariffs.
The problem is compounded by disputed and inaccurate municipal accounts, estimated meter readings, possible underground water leaks, and historical debt. In addition, schools have faced disconnections over outstanding property rates, which are the responsibility of the provincial government, not school governing bodies.
This is precisely why the Democratic Alliance (DA) has been calling for the immediate establishment of a permanent intergovernmental committee comprising the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE), the Department of Infrastructure Development (DID), the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Provincial Treasury and local municipalities.
This joint committee must audit every school’s municipal account, verify that meters are correctly linked to schools, identify underground leaks, resolve inaccurate billing and historical debt, and ensure that provincial obligations such as property rates are paid.
A DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government would establish a permanent structure to resolve the utility crisis faced by schools. This initiative aims to reduce unnecessary expenditure, allowing for better funding for schools. In addition, we would implement proper monitoring of municipal accounts and intervene when schools fail to pay for their municipal services.
Gauteng learners cannot continue paying the price for failures by the Gauteng Provincial Government.