Hope Ntanzi|Published52 minutes agoLoad shedding is over, so why did 397 schools lose power?

Nearly 400 South African public schools experienced prolonged or complete electricity interruptions over two years, despite improvements in national electricity availability. Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube revealed in Parliament that 397 schools were affected between April 2024 and March 2026. South Africa may have made progress in improving electricity availability, but hundreds of public schools experienced prolonged or complete power interruptions over the past two years, highlighting the challenges that remain within the country’s electricity system.

A total of 397 public schools were affected between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2026, according toBasic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, with reported causes including damaged infrastructure, transformer failures, vandalism, electricity supply disruptions and billing disputes. The figures were revealed in a written parliamentary reply toEFFMember of Parliament Laetitia Arries, who asked Gwarube how many schools had been affected by prolonged or complete electricity outages and what interventions had been implemented to ensure reliable power supply. Arries said several schools across the country had operatedwithout electricityfor extended periods over the past two years, with some functioning without power entirely for prolonged periods.

Gwarube said the figures were based on information submitted by provincial education departments, which reported that 397 public schools had experienced prolonged or complete interruptions to their electricity supply during the reporting period. TheEastern Capeaccounted for 324 of the 397 affected schools, meaning more than eight out of every 10 reported cases nationally came from the province. Gauteng recorded 19 affected schools, followed by the Free State and Mpumalanga with 13 each, KwaZulu-Natal with 12, while Limpopo, the Northern Cape and Western Cape each recorded five affected schools.

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North West recorded one. Gwarube cautioned that the figure should not be interpreted as the number of schools that remained without electricity. “The figure refers to specific schools reported by Provincial Education Departments as having been affected during the reporting period, and not to separate outage incidents. ”The nature and duration of the interruptions differed across schools and provinces, and someProvincial Education Departmentsindicated that outages were intermittent,” she said.

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