School funding delays drive principals into personal credit card debt - TimesLIVE

School principals are getting into personal debt to keep schools functioning while provincial education departments delay releasing funds for basic operating costs.

At the South African Principals’ Association (Sapa) national conference in Limpopo, attended by more than 850 principals, school leaders related how they had used their personal credit cards or savings to buy stationery and other supplies. The issue was raised in a plenary and in follow-up interviews.

Requesting anonymity, three principals — from two Limpopo primary schools and a Gauteng high school — said their personal debt had exceeded R10,000.

Provincial education departments are supposed to make the first payments to schools by May 15 and the second by November 15, but recurring delays have been reported.

“These are statutory payments, not pocket money,” said Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (Fedsas) CEO Dr Jaco Deacon.

Allocated via the national norms and standards for school funding (NNSSF) based on school quintiles and pupil counts, the money covers operating expenses such as stationery, learning materials, utilities and exams.

The Education Desk logo (supplied) Sapa president Mashudu Ramulumo said delayed funding was forcing principals into an untenable position, with the failure to find alternative money threatening to bring essential operations to a standstill.

Principals felt responsible for preventing examinations from being disrupted or postponed, he said in an interview. “When the schools reopen, principals have to buy stationery for educators. The first term or first and second-quarter examinations need lots of money, and when funding is not available principals have to find other ways to pay for school needs.

“You can’t just sit down and say no; they can’t write exams. So you take your own credit card and buy because you know you will be reimbursed.”

Ramulumo said some principals asked stationery suppliers for goods on credit. “Some of the suppliers have approached Sapa to help them in ensuring the principals pay up, and we mediate to ensure they understand that there is a delay, rather than that they are refusing to pay,” he said, adding that Sapa had repeatedly raised the issue with education authorities.

Ramulumo added that Sapa is working to address the mental pressure driving principals to administrative burnout, with up to 60% at breaking point, according to a recent survey.

“Burnout cannot be addressed while principals are expected to carry these financial burdens without the resources they need to run their schools,” he said.

A Limpopo primary school deputy principal said principals could spend months carrying school expenses themselves. “We have waited for more than three months without being reimbursed, and when we repay the credit cards, we have accumulated interest, which becomes difficult to pay off,” he said. “We cannot afford not to have a credit card because when things run out we need to provide the solution.”

A principal from a Tshwane primary school said the financial strain had affected his personal finances and credit record.

In Gauteng, the delay is caused by cash-flow problems. Finance MEC Nkululeko Dunga confirmed in a written response that the provincial Treasury had advised the Gauteng department of education to delay norms and standards payments because of cash-flow constraints.

The department had warned about projected transfers to schools in letters dated February 11 and June 13, but schools still did not receive their full first-tranche allocations. The latest reporting puts Gauteng’s overall shortfall at R1.87bn.

In her opening speech at the conference, basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube said: “Provinces are under significant financial pressure, but the delays in the payment of norms and standards to schools cannot continue. Children cannot be the shock absorbers for provincial financial pressures.”

She called on principals to stop using their credit cards and rather request funds from head office. “If there are cash flow problems, they must be absorbed by the head office and not the school.”

In a statement in May, Fedsas said only schools in the Western Cape and Northern Cape had received their full allocations; other provinces had either paid nothing or made partial payments.

The state’s total NNSSF obligation for 2026 is more than R21bn, “about R9 per learner per school day in no-fee schools”, Fedsas’ Deacon said in an earlier statement.