It has been more than a month since the Pietermaritzburg High Court ordered the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education on 26 May 2025 to pay all outstanding subsidies to Sakhokwethu Crèche, Phumelela Crèche, and Zenzeleni Crèche by 5 June 2025.
Although the three Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres received some payments between 30 May and 02 July 2025, these have been sporadic and incomplete, leaving them unable to plan and budget properly. One of the centres, Sakhokwethu, is still owed a significant amount dating back to the 2023/2024 financial year. This continued neglect has forced its principal, Bonisiwe Mthembu, to take on personal debt to keep the centre open, pushing her into financial crisis as she struggles with mounting interest payments. The consequences of this failure are severe for children, staff and the wider community.
“Sakhokwethu is in a state of despair and disrepair. Paying my staff is impossible when I have to choose between wages and feeding the children. It feels like the Department has abandoned us,” explains Bonisiwe Mthembu, principal of Sakhokwethu Crèche.
Adding to the crisis, the payments received so far have been made without clear information about which months or financial years they cover. This lack of transparency has made it impossible for the centres to meet their obligations to children, staff and families. Nonkonzo Madlala, Chairperson of Phumelela Crèche, expressed the impact of these failures in a plea shared by many centres across the province:
“All we are asking is simple: that the Department pays all ECD centres what is due to them, on time, every month. When they delay, all of our children go hungry, our staff go unpaid, and we are forced to choose between keeping the lights on and buying food. These are impossible decisions for ECD centres that care for the most vulnerable. As ECD centres, we are pleading, not for favours, but for the bare minimum the service level agreements promise us, so that we can give our children the safety, nutrition, and learning they deserve.”
In the weeks after the court order, the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) followed up repeatedly via email and telephone to secure compliance while considering a contempt of court application. These efforts were mostly met with silence, apart from a vague response citing internal accounting processes and offering no clear payment schedule. The few payments made were inadequate, unexplained, and provided no certainty for the centres.
This lack of transparency has deepened the financial crisis at the centres, which depend on timely monthly subsidies to deliver essential services to young children. As the Department remained evasive, conditions at the centres worsened, compounding the hardship faced by children, staff and their families.
The LRC believes that the Department is not engaging in good faith. This behaviour signals a troubling pattern of evasion and disregard for the urgent needs of young children who rely on these essential services. Although the applicants are not pursuing a contempt application at this stage, the LRC is monitoring compliance closely.
“We believe the Department’s refusal to explain or resolve this issue forces costly, unnecessary litigation, diverting resources that should be supporting children. As the LRC, this is a route we want to avoid at all costs,” the LRC said.
Whilst we monitor compliance with the first part of the order (Part A), the LRC is also preparing for Part B of the application, which is likely to be heard later this year. Part B seeks structural relief to address what has become a province-wide crisis in the administration of ECD subsidies. The LRC, on behalf of the applicants, will ask the Court for:
- a declaration that access to ECD is a constitutional right for all children
- an order compelling the Department to disclose the full extent of unpaid subsidies across the province
- an order directing the Department to finalise Transfer Payment Agreements with eligible ECD centres
- an order requiring the Department to report to the Court on progress towards full compliance
This second part of the litigation is critical not only to secure payments for the centres involved in the case but also to ensure a systemic solution that prevents the further contraction of the ECD sector in KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa as a whole.
The problems faced by these three centres are not isolated. The Department’s consistent failure to deliver subsidies in a timely and transparent manner has left many ECD centres on the brink of collapse. For children, this has meant the loss of access to regular meals, early development opportunities and a safe environment.
The LRC remains committed to supporting these centres and the communities they serve, working to uphold the rights of young children to nutrition, care and education.
