Treasury confirms KZN education department lacks funds for textbook purchases
The KwaZulu-Natal Treasury has moved swiftly to dismiss claims that it is deliberately blocking the purchase of textbooks for the upcoming school year
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The KwaZulu-Natal Treasury has moved swiftly to dismiss claims that it is deliberately blocking the purchase of textbooks for the upcoming school year.
This comes after reports claimed that the department was refusing to approve the education department’s request to procure Learning and Teaching Support Materials (LTSM), sparking concerns about potential delays in delivering textbooks to schools.
In a statement released to the media on Wednesday, the department said that it "was a matter of public record that Education was placed under a Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) Section 18 intervention after overspending its 2024/25 budget with excessive accruals at year's end".
The department added that "In line with this, Treasury has been mandated to ensure that Education utilises funds in a fiscally prudent manner".
"This mandate includes the responsibility to confirm that funds are available before the placement of any order. Failure to perform this function may result in overcommitments, unpaid service providers and unauthorised expenditure".
According to the Treasury, the education department currently does not have the required funds for the procurement of LTSM for the upcoming school year and added that it was therefore unable to approve the request to place an order as funds are not available.
"Treasury can confirm that Education currently does not have the required funds for the procurement of LTSM for the upcoming school year. Treasury is therefore unable to approve the request to place an order as funds are not available.
"Treasury and Education will work jointly to resolve this challenge before the commencement of the school year. Officials from both departments are expected to meet tomorrow to commence with this task".
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