Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube says the provincial Education departments are held accountable for underspending or misallocating ICT funds. In the past three years, provincial Education departments have allocated R7.1 billion from their Equitable Share budgets towards information and communication technology (ICT) in education. A total of R2.65 billion was spent in 2022/23, followed by R2.62 billion the following year, and R1.8 billion in 2024/25 financial year.
This was revealed by Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube recently when she was responding to EFF MP Vuyani Pambo, who asked about the expenditure by the provinces. Pambo also asked how the Basic Education Department tracked expenditures centrally and how provinces were held accountable for underspending and/or misallocating ICT funds. Gwarube stated that the Basic Education Department tracks provincial ICT expenditure through a multi-layered national oversight framework.
This included working with the National Treasury to analyse education spending patterns and the Auditor-General South Africa providing an independent verification of provincial Education departments’ expenditure, including ICT-related procurement, through annual audit outcomes. She also said the department has internal monitoring and governance involving the CFO reviewing provincial quarterly and annual financial performance reports, as well as an internal audit assessing the effectiveness of internal controls related to ICT spending and identifying potential risks.
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