16 Gauteng school projects delayed over site approval issues

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26-01-2026
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Sowetan
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Municipalities’ ‘ridiculous’ demands stall school projects

The Gauteng department of education has accused municipalities across the province of demanding favours, such as the construction of traffic lights and contributions to bulk infrastructure in order to obtain approval documents.

As a result of this continuous struggle, the department said 16 school projects have been delayed due to site approval issues by municipalities.

The department was only able to deliver on two schools in 2025, admitting that there was poor performance on their side, together with the department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta).

However, they added that their progress is also hindered by municipalities.

Spokesperson Steve Mabona said the problem has persisted for more than three years.

“This has been an ongoing challenge, extending beyond the past three years. GDE (Gauteng department of education) has been engaging municipalities on a continuous basis through several avenues, via their appointed implementing agents, professional service providers, and internal directorates responsible for infrastructure planning and delivery of planned projects,” he said.

Mabona added that Gauteng municipalities engage on infrastructure planning and delivery through platforms such as integrated development plan, sessions, developer forums, and community indabas.

“The issue of delays in approvals is experienced across all Gauteng municipalities, depending on the complexity of the infrastructure project or property-related matter.

“Other examples of conditions imposed by Gauteng municipalities prior to granting approval for SDPs [Site Development Plans] and BPs [Building Plans] include the widening of roads along school property, construction of traffic lights and speed humps near school entrances, upgrades of water and sewer pipelines, construction of water reservoirs to service surrounding townships, and contributions to bulk infrastructure,” he added.

Mabona said a minimum of 16 planned school building projects were delayed due to approvals for SDPs and/or BPs by the respective municipalities.

“When the SDP and BP approval is obtained for a particular project, several stages of the infrastructure delivery process follow. This involves the appointment of a contractor and ultimately obtaining a Municipal Occupation Certificate. Only once this certificate is issued by the respective municipality can the school be opened,” he explained.

“The main adverse impact on affected communities is that a planned school infrastructure project is ultimately not delivered or occupied for the purpose of serving the surrounding residential areas,” he said.

In December last year, while giving an update on admissions, MEC for education Matome Chiloane said municipalities are one of their biggest problems when it comes to growing school capacity in the province, as they delay in approving their plans and also make “ridiculous” demands in exchange for approving their applications for schools.

Chiloane said their plans to build more schools and upgrade existing ones are not moving forward, as municipalities want favours in exchange to approve applications for schools.

“In some schools that are completed and ready for occupation, the municipality said that for them to give us an Occupancy Certificate, we need to build a road.

“It is not my competence to build a road. When we calculated the cost of what the municipality wants [to build the road], it would require R165m, which we don’t have and which is not fair.

“Our role is to build and sustain schools; we are not responsible for the road outside. That is the responsibility of the municipality. They are the ones collecting rates and taxes to build and sustain that infrastructure. It cannot be us. So, some of the requests by municipalities are quite ridiculous,” Chiloane said.