{"id":45846,"date":"2025-12-25T04:19:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T04:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=45846"},"modified":"2025-12-25T04:19:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T04:19:04","slug":"grim-christmas-ecd-centres-north-west-education-department","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2025\/12\/25\/grim-christmas-ecd-centres-north-west-education-department\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;The department is not being honest&#8217;: Grim Christmas for ECD centres in North West"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><h2>ECD centres in the North West have not received their stipends, and there is doubt they will be paid<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners in the North West have been left high and dry, facing a bleak Christmas, despite promises that their stipends and subsidy payments will be paid.<\/p>\n<p>About 160 ECD centres, mostly in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District, have not received their stipends for 2025. They depend on these stipends to stay afloat, including paying staff, with many facing collapse.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ecd-centres-under-strain-as-stipends-delayed\">ECD centres under strain as stipends delayed<\/h2>\n<p>Last week, Education MEC Viola Motsumi said she would actively intervene in the crisis and promised payment by the end of this week.<\/p>\n<p>A directive issued to ECD centres, dated 22 December, stated that quarterly subsidy payments, including the approved adjustment from R17 to R24 per child, were processed during the past week.<\/p>\n<p>Lengane Bogatsu, the department\u2019s superintendent general, said in the directive: \u201cAn additional payment is scheduled to reflect in programme bank accounts on Monday, 22 December 2025\u2026 Principals and Centre Managers are hereby directed to ensure that Grade R practitioners are paid an amount of R15 000 from the subsidy funds received by 23 December 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He acknowledged the delay, saying it was due to essential verification processes and related administrative factors at the start of the financial year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALSO READ: Only 42% of SA\u2019s pre-schoolers on track, DBE index reveals<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Bogatsu said the centre management has been instructed to proceed with these payments immediately, providing full assurance that funds utilised from current subsidies will be reimbursed once the standard transfer process for practitioner payments was finalised.<\/p>\n<p>He said the department sought to resolve the non-payment of practitioners urgently to alleviate financial strain on caregivers and their families during the festive season.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-empty-promise\">\u2018Empty promise\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>But Annah Fourie, chairperson of the South African Association for Early Childhood Development, said none of the ECD centres, including hers, had received any payment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll we have is an empty promise\u2026it is a very depressing situation. I do not even have anything to pay the practitioners. We have worked for the entire year, without getting a cent and we are literally on our knees,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALSO READ: South Africa\u2019s early childhood education crisis<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-department-s-financial-system-closed\">Department\u2019s financial system closed<\/h3>\n<p>A senior education department official cast doubt on the promise that the ECD centres will be paid, saying there are no funds and, if the government found money, the financial system is closed for the festive season.<\/p>\n<p>According to an internal circular, dated 17 November 2025, the final date for payment of creditors was 19 December and the first payments for 2026 was 6 January.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government system is closed for now. How are they going to pay? The department is not being honest with the ECD centres. The truth is the department collapsed administration of ECD in the province. The province has failed to administer the ECD budget by not giving the ECD centres their allocations,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n<p>Provincial department of education spokesperson Vuyo Mantshule had not commented at the time of publishing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ NEXT: Treasury freezes funds to 15 troubled North West municipalities<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#department #honest #Grim #Christmas #ECD #centres #North #West<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ECD centres in the North West have not received their stipends, and there is doubt they will be paid Early&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45846"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45848,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45846\/revisions\/45848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}