Posts

Community, collaboration make for better public institutions

Ten years ago Corruption Watch ran an investigation into the dire conditions at Macosa Junior Secondary School in the Mqanduli area of the Eastern Cape. The school had no furniture for its 500 or so learners, no proper ablutions, and the walls had not been painted in years. Those learners who had a place to Read more >

Groups, NGOs bemoan plans to reopen schools

Corruption Watch The Department of Basic Education’s plans to reopen schools on 1 June 2020 have been met with criticism, with calls for the minister, Angie Motshekga, to reconsider choosing a later date or face a court action. Motshekga, in a press briefing held on Monday, 1 June 2020, said the postponement of the reopening Read more >

Jobs-for-sale report finds numerous irregularities

After two postponements, the long-awaited Department of Basic Education’s investigation report into the selling of teaching posts was made public last week. Most of the initial media allegations – those that sparked the investigation – focused on the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu), but the eight-member task team made sure to investigate the role Read more >

EE acts against poor school support from government

EE DEMANDS MINISTER MOTSHEKGA RELEASE PROVINCIAL IMPLEMENTATION PLANS FOR NORMS AND STANDARDS FOR SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE! Yesterday and today (1 and 2 April), more than 600 Equal Education (EE) student members – equalisers – have been holding sleep-in protests outside the Department of Basic Education (DBE)in Pretoria, Parliament in Cape Town, and the Eastern Cape Department Read more >

Some relief for Eastern Cape schools

By Valencia Talane In November 2013 Corruption Watch reported on a case of bad service delivery at an Eastern Cape school that had no chairs or desks for its learners. In fact, according to the principal, the school had received no new furniture in the 23 years that she had been there. For many years, Read more >

Lwando Mzandisi and the fight for good education

By Janine Erasmus A good education is something nobody can ever take away from you – but what if you never got one in the first place? Lwando Mzandisi of Equal Education comes from Eastern Cape, a province where the quality of the education system has declined, partly because of mismanagement and corruption. Now an Read more >

Unpacking SA’s education crisis – part six

In this, our sixth and final instalment on the unfolding education saga, we ask what lessons have been learned from the Limpopo textbook crisis to avoid a similar breakdown in the future, both from the government’s perspective and civil society. We look at systematic problems in the education system that affected the Eastern Cape, as Read more >

Unpacking SA’s education crisis – part five

In this, the fifth of our six-part series on the unfolding education crisis, we profile EduSolutions, its directors and those of its holding company. We examine the company’s historical relationship with public procurement, the current contracts that it has with various tiers of government, and the relationships its key directors have with leading public officials. Read more >

Expert: Neo Africa could face criminal charges

The report by Neo Africa will come under scrutiny when whistleblower and former Limpopo Education general manager of budget Solly Tshitangano takes his unfair dismissal fight to court. In its report, Neo Africa cleared senior department officials of irregularities relating to the EduSolutions contract – a conclusion not shared by other investigations. A legal expert Read more >