Parliament, Thursday, 31 March 2022 – The Mpumalanga delegation in the National Council of Province (NCOP) was today apprised by senior education officials in the province that there is a need for the building of 383 new schools in the province to accommodate the swelling population numbers.
Briefing the NCOP delegation as part of the Provincial Week activities, provincial education Head of Department Ms Lucy Moyane said the estimation was based on the guidelines for human settlements planning.
“When one looks at the population, the fast growing towns and the schools that we currently have, there is a need for about 383 new schools in the province,” the HOD told the NCOP delegation.
The HOD also reported that her department does not have the budget to deal with shortage of classrooms and also build new schools. However, work is underway for the construction of a special school for blind and deaf learners, after the need was identified a few years ago.
Following three-days of oversight in the province’s Ehlanzeni District and interacting with various stakeholders in assessing government’s capacity to deliver services, the NCOP delegation concluded that the province was able to deal with the needs of communities but there was room for improvement.
“After assessing the state capacity in Mpumalanga we can confirm that the province is able to deal with the needs of the people, there is room for improvement and we have identified specific issues that will be referred to the relevant departments to act on,” said House Chairperson for Committees and Oversight in the NCOP Mr Jomo Nyambi.
Meanwhile, the delegation also received briefings from municipalities, the provincial Office of the Auditor-General, the South African Local Government Authority as well as the Trans Africa Concessions, a private company responsible for the management of the N4 road between Pretoria and Maputo.
Ms Audrey Maleka, the Leader of the delegation commended the municipalities and the departments in their efforts to deliver services and improve the financial performances and audit outcomes.
The provincial and local government sectors were also advised that good audit outcomes alone do not help, and that a clean audit must also be able to produce efficient service delivery.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE LEADER OF THE MPUMALANGA DELEGATION IN THE NCOP, MS AUDREY MALEKA.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Leader of the delegation, please contact:
Name: Sakhile Mokoena
Parliamentary Communication Services
Cell: 081 705 2130
E-mail: smokoena@parliament.gov.za
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