MEC Sipho Hlomuka: Addington Primary School Media Statement

Programme Director,

Welcome

Once again, welcoming you colleagues from the media for accepting the invitation to join us for this media briefing this morning. We appreciate your commitment to keeping the public informed about developments in the education sector.

Update on 2026 school calendar

The 2026 school year is well underway and we are already working hard to continue improving education outcomes across all levels from the foundation phase up to Grade 12.

We congratulate Matric class of 2025 for taking the baton from their predecessors and ensuring that KwaZulu-Natal achieves a historic milestone by becoming the number one performing province for the first time.

Becoming number one is a milestone, but our vision is greater to build KwaZulu-Natal into the education capital of the continent through consistent delivery and measurable progress.

We are challenging the Class of 2026 to emulate the outstanding discipline, resilience, and commitment shown by the Class of 2025. The matric class of 2025 has set a high standard of excellence through hard work, focus, and determination, proving that success is achieved through consistency and sacrifice.

The task before the Class of 2026 is clear build on this legacy, raise the bar even higher, and ensure that KwaZulu-Natal continues to improve the quality of learner performance. The challenge is not only to reach the top, but to remain at the top.

Enrolment

We have a total of 2 918 003 (2.9 Million learners) enrolled for the 2026 Academic year. We have been visiting schools across districts and so far, we are satisfied that the enrolment process was smooth and successful across all 12 districts of the province.

KwaZulu-Natal is proud to be the first province to reach its enrolment targets, ensuring that every eligible child is accounted for and has the opportunity to access quality education. This achievement is the result of coordinated efforts by educators, school management teams, parents, and communities who understand that education is the foundation for a brighter future. While reaching this target is significant, our work continues to ensure that enrolment translates into learning, performance, and success in every classroom.

Despite known fiscal challenges, the education sector is outperforming targets in many other key performance areas. This gives us confidence to maintain our position as the best performing province in exit result, including Matric.

I want to thank all our stakeholders in the sector for putting shoulders to the wheel to ensure that learners were in the classrooms on the first day of school. Our appreciation goes to the educators and the school administration teams for making sure that the classrooms were ready and able to facilitate learning and teaching.

We are already near the end of two (2) weeks in the 2026 school year which has not been without its challenges including the lack of adequate funding to execute our mandate of facilitating a quality teaching and learning in a conducive classroom environment every day.

We continue to find ways to improve the registration process to limit the stress on learners and parents who are trying to find placement for their children. We also urge parents to apply for placement as soon as the registration process opens. Our teams in the schools, circuits and the districts will continue to assist schools to resolve placement challenges.

Update of LTSM (Learning and Teaching Support Materials)

The Department is pleased to report that the procurement and distribution process is progressing steadily, with deliveries being undertaken in phases across all districts. Priority has been given to ensuring that Grade R, Foundation Phase, and Grade 12 learners receive their required materials early, in line with curriculum demands and preparation for key assessment milestones.

2026 academic improvement plan

We have begun the process of studying trends in the 2025 Matric results, which will inform the development of a comprehensive 2026 Academic Improvement Plan. This will be based on the analysis of objectives set for 2025 on how far we have achieved them. The analysis will seek to demonstrate the extent of success of the 2025 Academic Improvement Plan to set objectives 2026.

Each objective will be discussed in terms of what it wanted to achieve. In 2024 out of 14 objectives the largest percentage was achieved however, there are 3 objectives which were partially achieved.

In 2025 the province aimed to improve the quality and relevance of interventions in Technical Subjects, SASL, Physical Sciences, Maths to increase the number of learners taking Maths in Grade 10. We will once again brief the pubic on these new targets in due course.

Budget allocation and disbursement of norms and standards

I want to spend some time to remind you about the reality that we have to deliver on our mandate with a budget allocation of R62.989 billion, of which:

• R51.398 billion (89%) goes to costs related to the compensation of our most critical resources, the educators and the administration staff who support them in schools, circuits, district and the province. We have 86 905 school-based educators, 919 office-based educators and 178 therapists employed in terms of the Employment of Educators Act who provide the core function towards ensuring a literate and skilled society through education. The Department also has 11 240 employees who are employed in terms of the Public Service Act to provide support services.
• R2.246 billion (4%) is transferred to schools, which then the department with R4.247 billion (7%) remaining for the operations, while the res R5.022 billion is related to Conditional grant funding.
• The escalating CoE costs are limiting our ability to add new educators to the system. It is also impacting negatively on other priority areas of the department, including the delayed payment of service providers (including domestic accounts), delayed provision of textbooks and stationery to schools (LTSM), and transfers to schools.

School safety

We are extremely concerned by the continued rise in incidents of crime and criminality in and around our schools. The scourge of crime recently spiked in our schools across the province. The department has mobilized the support of key departments in dealing with this problem. We have been visiting communities that host our schools to conscientize all stakeholders and to find solutions to this societal crisis.

This unfortunate situation is disruptive to our endeavor to ensure that our schools are safe and conducive for teaching and learning for all. This scourge requires resolute leadership which is willing to work around the clock to find amicable solutions for the benefit of our children.

Disruptive protest

We are also deeply concerned about the continued protests at the perimeter of the school that have adversely affected teaching and learning at this school. I know that this issue has occupied the heart and minds of South Africa and it has attracted global attention.

We have a responsibility as the Department of Education to protect everyone who enters our schools, therefore we will not allow schools to be misused as sites of social conflict. Schools exist for one purpose teaching and learning. Any action that disrupts education, intimidates learners, or compromises the safety of educators and school staff is unacceptable and will be dealt with decisively.

It must be stated clearly that learners regardless of their background cannot be targeted or victimised. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa is unambiguous every child within our borders has the right to basic education.

The Department rejects the misleading and dangerous narrative that has been peddled to mobilise society:

• The Department does not engage in or entertain speculation about the nationality of educators or school leaders. However, there was a dangerous allegation that Principal and the majority of his staff are is a foreign nationals. These allegations are false, those who peddle these lies do so knowingly, and knowing that they are putting innocent lives at risk.
• Secondly, there are widespread allegations that foreign learners are responsible for challenges such as overcrowding, resource constraints, or underperformance. The truth is that these are systemic issues that require proper planning, and sustained investment in education not blame-shifting and exclusion.
• It has also been alleged that the school prioritises foreigners over South Africans. The schools has provided evidence which clearly refutes this allegation. The total enrolment is 1 548. South African Learners are 968, while 580 are Foreign National Learners.
• The school has enroller 17 Undocumented learners. Again the majority of the undocumented learners are South Africans, with 12 undocumented South African learners. The undocumented Foreign National Learners are 5.

The timing of such disruptions is particularly concerning, as KwaZulu-Natal is working tirelessly to consolidate improvements in learner outcomes and matric performance. Our progress must not be overshadowed by disorder and inflammatory rhetoric that distracts from the real work of building a highperforming education system.

We call on the public in general, and parents and guardians in particular, to rely only on official communication from the school and the Department, and not on rumours circulated through social media or informal channels.

We can confirm that the school followed the approved admission protocols, which placed the responsibility on the parent to ensure that the children are registered and taken to school among other requirements in terms of Section 5 (5) of the South African Schools Act.

As things stand there is a list of between 15-21 learners that needs to be resolved. We empathise with the parents, who were all affected by disasters which has led to them finding themselves situated at South Beach. We also appreciate the reasons advance by parents who wish to choose Addington Primary. However, we do not condone or encourage the method of protest that has left teachers and learners in trauma.

Way forward

Ladies and gentlemen, we thought it was important to come here today to engage with the parents and the school management with the intention to explore all options to resolve this impasse and to allow the school and the learners to return to the classroom.

We have therefore resolved to take extraordinary measures to assist these learners and their parents. We want to stress however that this is not going to be allowed to be the norm.

We have 11 grade R children. These children cannot be accommodated at Addington primary. In order to assist them, we have negotiated with a local ECD centre at a reduced rates. This Center is a feeder school to Grade 1.

We have left the administration of the school to find means to assist the learners in other grades which will be announce in due course.

We therefore call on all of us to support the provincial efforts led by the Premier, which brings various role-players and stakeholders towards a society wide solution. These efforts include the Social Crime Prevention Summit which was recently hosted by the Premier.

By upholding these principles, schools can create an environment where students focus on learning, personal development, and constructive citizenship.

Conclusion

Once again thank you for your attendance. I hope that you will continue to promote access to information to all people of South Africa.

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