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The South African Human Rights Commission (the Commission) is gravely concerned about the announced budget cuts to the basic education sector. The announced budget cuts have already led to proposed job cuts in the Western Cape, with over 2400 jobs set to be cut in that province alone. Some reports suggest that these proposed job cuts will disproportionately affect schools in poor communities, exacerbating the adverse educational outcomes in those communities.

Whilst the Commission is concerned about the impact of the announced budget cuts on jobs and livelihoods, it is equally concerned about the impact of the announced budget cuts on addressing the challenge of poor school infrastructure, particularly in historically black and poor communities. The announcement comes at a time when South Africa as a whole is experiencing backlogs in school infrastructure and at a time when many provincial departments of education are unable to comply with the published norms and standards for school infrastructure due to budgetary constraints.

The announced budget cuts will, therefore, exacerbate these challenges and stall current efforts to address infrastructure challenges in schools across all nine provinces. The announced budget cuts are, therefore, a regressive step. The Commission wishes to emphasise that budgeting and budget allocation should always be aligned with the objective of progressively realising socio-economic rights. Budget allocations must, therefore, always pass constitutional muster. 

In an effort to secure redress for the thousands of learners and staff who will be affected by the announced budget cuts, the Commission will seek to do the following:

• Engage with the Portfolio Committee on Education and make submissions on the impact of the proposed budget cuts on all facets of the right to basic education;
• Engage with the Minister of Basic Education to explore solutions to ameliorate the impact of the announced budget cuts on the right to basic education;
• Engage the Minister of Finance on the impact of its budgeting decisions on the fulfilment of socio-economic rights more broadly, including the right of access to basic education;
• Informed by the above engagements, consider all other options as provided for in its mandate.

Issued by the South African Human Rights Commission