Nearly 200 school assistants in the Western Cape have gone unpaid for weeks, prompting a demand from the ANC for the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to intervene. But the Department says it is not to blame.

The leader of the opposition, Khalid Sayed, has accused the provincial government of abandoning vulnerable youth working in under-resourced communities.

The ANC says the non-payment of stipends under the Basic Education Employment Initiative is a moral failure and requires urgent intervention from the Western Cape Education Department.

But the WCED says it has paid all assistants under its control, blaming the delays on the Industrial Development Corporation, the body appointed nationally to handle UIF-linked payments.

However, Sayed this does not absolve the WCED of responsibility.

He says while these school assistants await their payment, the Department must provide relief or bring support to unpaid assistants; demand full accountability from the Department of Basic Education and the IDC regarding delays; and ensure that such administrative failures do not happen again.

“Our young people are not numbers on a spreadsheet—they are workers, caregivers, students, and citizens who answered the call to serve in our schools. The failure to pay them is not just a bureaucratic issue; it is a moral one.”

In response, the WCED’s Director of Communications, Bronagh Hammond, confirmed there are two payment systems that are being used to pay assistants.

Hammond says the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) was appointed by the Department of Basic Education, in collaboration with the Department of Employment and Labour, to administer funding for the Basic Education Employment Initiative (BEEI).

She says the management of stipend payments to the UIF schools, therefore, falls under the purview of the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), not the Western Cape Education Department.

“Assistants at schools where the WCED is responsible for stipend payments, received their payments at the end of June and July 2025. We understand the significant impact this current situation has on our dedicated assistants, many of whom rely on these stipends to support their families and meet their financial obligations. While we are actively seeking to intervene in this matter, our efforts have yielded limited success thus far.”

The Department says they have been informed that payment runs are scheduled for this week (4 – 9 August 2025).

“We remain hopeful that those who have yet to receive their stipends will be compensated as part of this process.”