This, as he will be expected to not only outline how he will address infrastructure issues faced in the province but address questions about employees that were left without jobs when the department abruptly decided to shut down ten of its learning material and stationery warehouses in 2017.

Nearly half of the 600 laid-off employees represented by the Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA) union have taken the matter up and lodged a complaint with the General Public Service Sector Bargaining Council (GPSSBC) in demand to be rehired on a permanent basis this time around. Tabling his multi-billion rand budget, Makgoe will today thus be expected to indicate whether the department has plans to rehire them or not. This is coupled with questions regarding the shortage of teachers and inadequate resources at schools.

The building of eight new schools before the end of the fiscal year, as alluded to by Premier Sisi Ntombela during the State of the Province Address earlier this month, is another enormous task he will have to elaborate on.

His department, together with the Health Department, are the two departments that year-on-year receives the bulk of the provincial budget.

The Education Department is this year receiving the biggest chunk as health has already been allocated a total of R11,142 billion for 2019/20.

OFM News