Despite billions allocated to early childhood development (ECD), mounting evidence suggests funding is failing to reach centres, leaving practitioners unpaid and children at risk.
According to the department of basic education’s 2024-25 annual report, R10 billion was secured from National Treasury to increase the ECD subsidy to R24 per child per day and extend access to an additional 700 000 children.
Funding promises under scrutiny
Further commitments were outlined in the department’s 2025-26 annual performance plan, which allocated R6.3 billion over the medium term for the ECD conditional grant, aimed at subsidising children in registered programmes.
Another R210 million was earmarked for infrastructure development, while R100 million was set aside for a results-based financing pilot and R236 million for an ECD nutrition pilot.
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube also launched the R496 million early childhood care and education (ECCE) outcomes fund.
But conditions on the ground paint a starkly different picture. In North West, ECD centres have allegedly been told that the provincial budget for ECD has been depleted, with no funding available for this year.
Provinces battle unpaid subsidies
The department has since dismissed the claim as false but could not explain why ECD centres in the province had not been paid their stipends for over a year.
This follows earlier reports that practitioners had gone unpaid for months for Grade R services, despite assurances from authorities.
KwaZulu-Natal is facing similar challenges. The Legal Resources Centre has taken the provincial education department to the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg over what it describes as a widespread failure to pay subsidies to registered ECD centres.
In May last year, the court ordered the department to settle outstanding payments owed to three centres.
A second phase of the case, set to be heard next week, seeks a structural interdict compelling the department to disclose all outstanding subsidy payments and settle them within a week.
Children and practitioners bear the cost
Tshepo Mantjé, ECD coordinator at Real Reform for ECD, said the crisis reflects deeper systemic failures.
The court case was important in addressing not only the immediate issue of subsidy nonpayment but also in addressing systemic issues in the sector.
“ECD funding in South Africa is grossly inadequate, unequal and unreliable… On paper, R24 per child per day is already too low. In reality, many centres don’t receive it at all, or receive it late and inconsistently.”
Only about 40% of the subsidy is allocated to meals, amounting to less than R10 a day for two meals and a snack.
This, Mantjé said, did not even cover basic nutrition costs.
While the transfer of ECD functions from social development to basic education has improved registration processes, Mantjé said access to funding remained uneven and hampered by administrative inefficiencies.
The consequences are far-reaching.
“When subsidies are not paid, children suffer through poor nutrition and reduced stimulation. Centres become unstable, some close and practitioners leave the sector,” Mantjé said.
The crisis was deepening inequality, with poorer communities hardest hit, he said, adding that research from the 2024 Thrive by Five Index shows fewer than half of SA children were developmentally on track, with poverty a key driver.
Annah Fourie, chair of the SA Association for Early Childhood Development, said while there were challenges when the sector was still under the social development department, they were worse off with Basic Education.
“Many centres are facing closure and the department is using compliance as an excuse. The situation has reached crisis levels.”
‘Not possible’ that funds depleted
Basic Education spokesperson Terrence Khala said: “The government financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March. The ECD funding from the conditional grant gets transferred to provincial departments quarterly, so it is not possible for any province to have depleted their funding allocation for the 2026-27 financial year.”
He said they tracked expenditure on a fortnightly basis to detect under-expenditure early and provide targeted support.
Support was provided to provinces struggling with processing payments timeously.
Khala said the department was rolling out a digitised process to enable the processing of subsidy applications more efficiently.
The subsidy was to supplement fees and not to fully fund ECD programmes, but rather to make them more affordable for parents, Khala said.
He added that facts would have to be presented for the department to respond to the claim that ECD funds were diverted to other programmes.
