Official reports highlight systemic issues and financial rot at Ekurhuleni special needs school

South Africa’s special education policies are designed to protect the country’s most vulnerable, but at Dukathole LSEN School in Ekurhuleni, those protections appear to exist only on paper.

Daily Maverick spoke to parents who voiced a list of concerns, ranging from the regression of their children to hygiene and safety violations.

“We are not getting a clear vision of where the children are going,” one parent explained, noting that instead of progressing, learners were losing vital developmental milestones and confidence.

Despite the presence of speech and occupational therapists, specialised therapy is reportedly determined by subjective judgements, such as a child “not being that bad”, rather than clinical necessity.

Furthermore, while many learners at Dukathole are non-verbal, they have never been taught alternative communication systems such as Makaton, the Picture Exchange Communication System (Pecs), or other augmentative tools.

Another major concern for parents is the absence of Individual Support Plans (ISPs), which remain unaddressed well into the school year.

As one parent explained: “We still haven’t been approached for Individual Support Plans in March. You cannot engage a child with special needs without first doing an ISP, because how will you know what to address, how to help the child in order to progress?”

Beyond the classroom, parents are terrified for their children’s physical safety. Children at the school are frequently left unattended, with some learners suffering epileptic fits or other medical conditions without any assistance, leading to injuries.

The parents detailed an incident in which a child who soiled himself was reportedly locked in a toilet for an extended period. Rather than following a hygiene plan, the school allegedly called the mother to come and attend to her son.

Despite numerous emails sent to the school, the district, and the Gauteng Department of Education, parents say their pleas for intervention have been met with a wall of silence.

“The department knows about all of this yet we are told: ‘You need to give us time, you need to follow due process.’ Even when we follow due process, nothing happens. They continue to sweep things under the carpet instead of exercising the oversight role that would have prevented this crisis in the first place,” said one parent.

Departmental investigation validates concerns

While parents describe a school in a state of collapse, their claims are largely mirrored in an internal departmental investigation that confirms a systemic failure in both governance and care.

A 9 September 2025 report by Dr Hester Costa, Gauteng Department of Education’s Director of Inclusion and Special Schools, outlined the findings of an investigation into Dukathole LSEN School, prompted by a parent protest over various educational, operational and governance concerns.

The report addresses the lack of parental involvement in Individual Support Plans, the urgent need to finalise a student exit policy, and curriculum failures such as a lack of ingredients for cooking practicals and missing teaching worksheets. It also covered issues ranging from learner hygiene protocols, the temporary filling of therapist vacancies, and alleged procurement irregularities and financial mismanagement.

Investigators found that Individual Support Plans were developed for learners needing extra help, but these were drafted without any collaboration with their parents. Curriculum implementation has broken down as the food production programme has lacked practical cooking ingredients since April 2025, forcing educators to teach only theory in violation of the Differentiated Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement.

Furthermore, during a classroom walk-through, investigators noted poor curriculum delivery, with some educators not actively teaching because they were still waiting for their departmental head to provide worksheets.

The report ties many of these issues to a systemic and severe lack of departmental oversight. Investigators found no evidence that the district had been tracking the progress of recommendations made during a previous Whole School Improvement visit in February 2025. Furthermore, District-Based Support Team activities were largely unscheduled, and there was no meaningful district oversight regarding curriculum and assessment.

The report emphasises in its conclusion that without consistent, visible and active district monitoring to enforce both the newly proposed recommendations and the prior improvement plans, Dukathole LSEN School faced a high risk of continued stagnation and regression.

The paper trail of financial mismanagement

A separate pre-audit conducted in September 2025 provides a paper trail of how school funds have been handled.

The audit uncovered widespread internal control failures, painting a picture of a severely compromised financial system. Investigators found rampant inconsistencies in payment authorisations, with numerous Electronic Funds Transfer requisition forms missing mandatory signatures from the principal, finance officer, or School Governing Body (SGB).

Additionally, the school’s petty cash management is in disarray as there is no formal petty cash file, reconciliations are ignored, and monthly cash withdrawals routinely exceed the strict R3,000 limit set by departmental circulars.

The breakdown in basic controls extends to asset management as the school lacks a detailed, updated asset register, and investigators flagged a highly suspicious pattern of unreferenced electronic bank payments, including nearly a dozen untraceable transfers of exactly R50,000 each.

Further exacerbating the school’s financial woes is the disregard for supply chain management processes and competitive bidding. Departmental rules mandate that any purchase exceeding R3,000 must be accompanied by at least three sourced quotations.

However, the audit revealed a pattern of payments made without these mandatory quotes, including R103,596 for CCTV installation, R41,000 for general repairs, and R62,000 for cleaning materials. The school also made payments to single service providers for lump sums of R250,000 and R200,000 for a skills development programme, without sufficient supporting documents, quotations or formal Service Level Agreements.

The report also notes illegal financial compensation paid directly to SGB members. Under Section 27(2) of the South African Schools Act (as amended by the 2024 Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill), SGB members are strictly prohibited from receiving remuneration for performing their duties or attending school meetings. Despite this clear legislation, the audit logged multiple illicit payments to SGB members for attending meetings.

The audit explicitly recommends that the head of department launch a formal investigation into the findings to ensure accountability under the state legislation framework, and mandates continuous oversight.

What does the law say?

Special schools are primary and high schools that are equipped to deliver a specialised education programme to learners requiring access to highly intensive educational support.

According to the 2014 South African Department of Basic Education guidelines for managing and improving special schools, the Department of Education at national, provincial and district levels has an obligation to monitor all special schools regularly and provide the necessary support to protect the rights of the most vulnerable learners in the system.

All aspects of schooling must be monitored, including management, curriculum, infrastructure and professional support. Special schools must not be seen as the sole responsibility of Inclusive Education officials. Furthermore, the department is legally required to maintain comprehensive records of all special schools to ensure accountability.

Daily Maverick reached out to both the school and SGB for comment, however we were referred to the Gauteng Department of Education which had not responded to queries by the time of publication. DM