A comprehensive review by the Education Labour Relations Council has uncovered significant irregularities within the national education system, including 22,000 teacher records that fail to align with official government payroll systems. The same assessment identified more than 610,000 learners without proper documentation—comprising both South African citizens and foreign nationals.
Khomotjo Maimela, Chairperson of the Basic Education Portfolio Committee, addressed the implications of these findings. Maimela praised educators and teacher unions for initiating the verification effort, noting that their work brought critical transparency to long-standing administrative challenges within the sector.
In response, the Portfolio Committee has directed each provincial education department to undergo individualized reviews of the ELRC findings. According to Maimela, provinces must now clarify their action plans: launching forensic probes where fraudulent activity is suspected, and resolving discrepancies linked to clerical or systemic errors. “We expect provinces to come and account individually on the issues that are specifically related to their jurisdictions,” Maimela stated.
A notable point of contention involves the Western Cape education department, which declined to take part in the verification exercise. Although initial objections centered on compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), Maimela confirmed those legal concerns were subsequently addressed. Despite this, the province maintained its non-participation and later suggested it had been excluded—a claim the committee disputed, emphasizing that the Western Cape was included from the outset but chose to withdraw.
Maimela highlighted three provinces requiring heightened oversight. KwaZulu-Natal tops the list, recording the highest volume of suspected “ghost teacher” cases while simultaneously managing the nation’s largest teacher salary expenditure. The province is also subject to a court order mandating a financial recovery plan following legal action by a teaching union over fiscal management.
Gauteng follows as a priority area due to hosting the greatest number of undocumented learners. Maimela clarified that the majority of these 610,000 unregistered students are South African nationals, underscoring a domestic administrative gap rather than solely a migration-related issue.
The Western Cape rounds out the trio of concern, with persistent challenges around learner placement and admission processes continuing to draw scrutiny from oversight bodies.
Maimela urged provincial departments to act swiftly without awaiting further parliamentary instruction. “They should start acting on some of the issues that they have revealed,” she emphasized, pointing to immediate opportunities to curb financial leakage and improve learner registration systems.
The Portfolio Committee intends to hold targeted briefings with provincial officials to track progress on remedial measures. The overarching goal remains restoring integrity to payroll systems and ensuring every learner—regardless of nationality or documentation status—is accounted for within the formal education framework.