19,000 South African teachers in deep trouble

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana warned that 19,000 teaching jobs in Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) could be lost due to budget constraints if opposing parties squash measures like the VAT hike.

Godongwana wants to use the VAT increase to fill a R60 billion shortfall in government finances, which is needed to cover key expenditures.

These include civil servant salary increases, infrastructure projects, school feeding programs, early childhood development, and an extension of the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant. 

According to Godongwana, the SRD grant alone requires an additional R35.2 billion in funding to be extended until March 2026.

The finance minister warned that thousands of jobs in essential services are at risk if the government can’t find a way to increase revenue, adding to the realities South Africa faces.

During the week, Godongwana highlighted challenges facing the government in funding essential services such as education and healthcare as a motivation for a two percentage point VAT increase.

Godongwana warned that, due to the budget’s predicament, as many as 19,000 teaching jobs could be lost in KZN.

However, the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson, Thirona Moodley, called the warning a pressure tactic, although the education system is still under strain.

“It’s premature for him to say that at this point. It’s like he is pressuring society to accept the [two percentage point] point VAT hike; otherwise, there will be a loss of 19,000 jobs in KwaZulu-Natal alone,” she said.

Moodley called on the government to look at preventing wasteful expenditure and apply consequence management.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in KwaZulu-Natal has raised concerns about potential job losses and accused Minister Godongwana of jeopardising the province’s education system.

For the 2025/26 financial year, the Department of Education received an allocation of R65.8 billion, which is only a 4.5% increase from the previous year.

DA MPL Sakhile Mngadi stated that this increment is insufficient to cover rising costs. In response, the DA plans to introduce a new Schools Evaluation Authority Bill to address the crisis.

A crisis

The Public Servants Association (PSA) in KwaZulu-Natal has strongly opposed the government’s plan to cut thousands of teaching jobs in the province.

According to PSA KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Manager, Mlungisi Ndlovu, this decision is “reckless” given that the province has over 2.6 million learners and more than 90,000 educators.

Ndlovu argues that the main issue is the government’s austerity measures, which have severely impacted education funding.

“In the past three financial years, the Department of Education has lost about R27 billion due to annual budget cuts of R6 billion,” he said.

These cuts have led to thousands of unfilled support positions, with between 4,000 and 6,000 office-based jobs remaining vacant. As a result, many schools struggle to maintain basic operations.

Adding to the crisis, Ndlovu pointed out that KwaZulu-Natal has about 6,000 schools, and 86% of them are no-fee schools.

“If the government is unable to fund them, it creates a crisis—a national crisis that needs urgent attention,” he said. The PSA has called for immediate dialogue with education authorities.

“We have said to the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal and the MEC of Education that they must engage with us because most schools are already struggling,” Ndlovu explained.

He also highlighted the inequality in the system. “The sad part is that most government leaders, particularly politicians, send their children to expensive private schools.”

Ndlovu emphasised that the education department requires over R2 billion just to sustain operations, with more than R50 billion already allocated to salaries.

“Most essential services are not being taken care of,” he warned. The situation extends beyond salaries—issues like school nutrition programs and infrastructure funding also need urgent attention.

“We have a crisis,” Ndlovu warned. “We are sitting on a ticking time bomb where over 19,000 of our educators could lose their jobs.”