R2 Million debt puts matric pupils at risk

By Retšelisitsoe Temeki

Pupils writing their matric final exams in the North West have been left to stay in a run-down facility without proper meals after the Department of Education allegedly failed to pay a service provider for previous work.

The Managing Director of Mbuso Management Solutions, Daddy Khuselo, said the Department owes his company R2 million from last year’s matric camps. This delay  has crippled their ability to properly prepare the Itireleng Skills Training Centre in time to host hundreds of pupils this year.

“Let me firstly give you the background of everything before we can find ourselves in this current situation. We have been in charge of Itireleng since 2018, and our relationship with the Department started in 2019 when we hosted 1300 Grade 12 learners from 10 High Schools, and everything ran smoothly until the Department announced taking over the finances of the camps because parents were paying for their children and immediately after that announcement, parents stopped paying and thereafter the department faced financial problems in 2023. They owe us R2 million, and despite reaching an agreement to pay us R350,000, they still haven’t paid us,” he said.

Khuselo said the non-payment and poor communication from the Department have directly affected pupils’ welfare. He claims the Department only confirmed on Friday night, October 24,  that the centre would host learners from Matlhaleng, Mmokeng, and Kanana Secondary Schools, leaving little time to prepare before matriculants began arriving on Sunday.

He said his team had to rush maintenance work over the weekend and could only use their own limited resources to make the centre habitable.

Khuselo also distanced his company from reports that learners were left without meals, insisting that food provision was not part of their agreement with the Department.

He condemned the circulating images of the poor conditions, describing them as misleading.

Khuselo expressed frustration that despite his company’s efforts to accommodate the learners, they continue to face public criticism while the Department avoids accountability.

The Deputy Secretary of SADTU , Khanyi Kotswane,   placed the blame on the Department, saying the crisis could have been prevented with better planning.

“Learners came here without food and had to share what they had amongst themselves. The department should plan ahead to avoid pointing fingers at service providers,” she said.

Member of the Board of Governance from the South African Learners Command, Luthando Dada, echoed these concerns, saying the Department’s mismanagement undermines the purpose of the camps.

“Such camps are done to improve the pass rate of learners, not to stress them about the conditions they found themselves in. We call on the department particularly the MEC to refrain from such behaviours because we do not want extortionists getting advantage of such situations as it is not a political campaign, we are here for learners to pass,” Dada said.

Meanwhile, the North West Department of Education’s Superintendent-General, Lengane Bogatsu, said he could only respond after receiving a full report on the matter.