While the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) insists that government schools in the province do not practice racial exclusion, a parallel report prepared by the national department revealed that prohibitive admission criteria are still being applied in several instances.
Although the criteria cited by the national Department of Basic Education (DBE) are not explicitly race-based, a senior official raised concerns that these practices are discriminatory and present a structural barrier to access.
The matter, which came before Parliament’s Standing Committee on Education this week, follows a Western Cape High Court judgment that found the province’s learner admissions system unfairly discriminates against Black and marginalised learners by failing to manage late applications effectively.
Presenting the national department's findings, DBE Chief Director for Planning and Implementation Support James Ndlebe highlighted that applicants seeking placement are frequently ranked according to their previous academic performance.
However, in a separate report, WCED Deputy Director-General for Institutional Development and Coordination Alan Meyer stated that the province found no evidence of schools using race as an admission criterion. To test these allegations, he said the provincial department conducted a sample review of admission policies across ten schools with the highest volume of applications for 2025.
“We have engaged with schools to address instances where admission policies fail to align with constitutional and legislative requirements. We have ensured that there is transparent implementation so criteria are applied consistently and openly, preventing indirect as well as direct disadvantage to persons applying to the school through discretionary decisions,” Meyer said.
Meyer added that the department is actively monitoring placement outcomes to identify and address any unfair exclusions.
“For example, a school that has historically been accepting learners of a particular race—those schools are being monitored as well to see what the outcome of the placement process is,” he noted.
Addressing applications classified as late, Meyer reported that 431 applications submitted through the walk-in center were processed without evidence of racial discrimination. Overall, 70,520 late applications were processed for the 2026 school year, with all learners successfully placed based on space availability, feeder zones, and application dates.
“All 431 applications [after January] were recorded and processed without any racial filtering being applied,” Meyer said.
However, civil society organisation Equal Education, which led the legal challenge against the WCED, disputed the claim that all late applicants have been accommodated, noting that many families received official placement letters but were still denied physical access to classrooms.
Equal Education representative Sicelo Ngomana stated that the organisation had repeatedly attempted to engage directly with provincial authorities.
Following years of litigation led by Equal Education, the Western Cape High Court ruled in December that the department had failed to plan for and manage late, extremely late, and transfer applications. The court noted that this failure left thousands of learners without school places for unreasonable periods year after year.
Expanding on the national department's investigation, Ndlebe argued that admission processes at several Western Cape schools remain highly discriminatory in practice.
“There was significant emphasis on placing children according to academic performance. The brighter the child, the better their chance of getting a place. Schools are using previous academic reports to rank learners,” Ndlebe said.
The DBE investigation also found that some application forms required details regarding participation in niche sports, leadership roles, and musical instrument proficiency. Additionally, several schools declared themselves full despite not having reached the statutory teacher-to-learner ratio of 1:35. Other institutions subjected applicants to entrance tests and interviews, or strictly required unabridged birth certificates and proof of parents' formal employment.
“There was major emphasis on birth certificates when the law explicitly states this cannot be a primary criterion, given that the majority of undocumented learners are South African citizens,” Ndlebe said.
“All these findings indicate that our admission processes remain highly discriminatory. Children are forced to compete for places and are ranked according to social status and irregular criteria.”
Ndlebe also raised concerns over the unchecked power of School Governing Bodies (SGBs). Unlike Gauteng, which uses a centralised online placement system, the Western Cape’s online portal serves primarily as an application processing tool, leaving final placement decisions to individual SGBs.
“SGBs play an active role in determining placement, which is where the conflict between public governance and institutional management arises. Under the South African Schools Act (SASA), SGBs have authority to determine admission policies. Learners apply on the system, and schools pick and choose who they want according to self-authored criteria,” Ndlebe explained.
Parliamentary Standing Committee Chairperson Joy Maile said the committee needed to look at ways to compel the Western Cape department to eliminate these restrictive entry requirements.
“We may need to write to the Speaker of Parliament to express our frustration, detail our two years of engagement on this matter, and seek advice on the powers and avenues available to bring relief to parents whose children remain out of school,” Maile said.
“Secondly, we must review the powers and functions of SGBs in admissions. While the role of SGBs is to adopt admission policies, this decentralised placement function is producing unequal outcomes. The province should be compelled to assume direct responsibility for placing learners in schools.”
ntsikelelo.qoyo@nationalmg.co.za
