Finance experts have been deployed to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education to scrutinise its wage bill amid concerns of the department’s financial viability.
Finance MEC Francois Rodgers revealed that his department has dispatched experts to examine the wage bill, which consumes close to 90% of the department’s annual budget.
Rodgers expressed concern that the department has not been able to provide a clear breakdown of how much of its budget is allocated to employee compensation.
The Finance MEC addressed the matter shortly after tabling his adjustment budget at the provincial legislature on Tuesday.
The Department of Education, the largest in the country, is facing significant strain due to budget cuts that have slashed billions of rand from its budget over the past few years.
As a result of these cuts, the department has admitted that its operations are severely affected. It can no longer afford to hire new teachers and is only able to replace those who have passed away or retired.
The department has raised its concerns with the national Department of Basic Education and the National Treasury.
“The biggest problem with the Department of Education is its compensation of employees. There is a varying percentage that we are given (on budget spent on compensation). What we have done now, to get to the bottom of this is that we now have Treasury officials who have gone into the Department of Education. This will allow us to determine the exact figure for employee compensation,” said Rodgers.
He added that between the Treasury and the Department of Education, they need to identify spending pressures and re-prioritise accordingly.
Rodgers said correspondence was expected from the minister of Education, which will address the additional funding required by the department.
In his adjustment budget, the MEC announced minor relief for the department, stating that the school nutrition programme will receive additional funding to support its operations until the end of the year.
“The programme receives R95 million towards the shortfall in the National School Nutrition Programme. The current allocation under the National School Nutrition Programme grant is insufficient to cater for all the learners currently being fed under this scheme, and the amount allocated in this Adjustments Budget addresses that shortfall,” he stated.
Other key allocations also show that the Office of the Premier receives R85m, which includes R10m for transfer to the Zulu Royal House Trust to cover legal fees for His Majesty, the King, and to provide for new beneficiaries in line with the current royal household’s needs.
Additionally, an amount of R75m is allocated for the continued implementation of the KZN Youth Empowerment Fund, aiming to reach more youth businesses to positively contribute to reducing youth unemployment.
There is also over R24m currently held by the KZN Growth Fund Agency, making around R100m available in the current year for this fund.
“We want to see unemployment drop in the province,” said Rodgers speaking on the allocation for youth empowerment.
“The Mercury” reached out to the spokesperson of the Department of Education, but they had not responded by the time of publication.
THE MERCURY