Irregular expenditure at DBE, SACE and Umalusi rises to R96.3m

Irregular expenditure at South Africa’s Department of Basic Education (DBE), the South African Council for Educators (SACE) and Umalusi reached R96.3 million in the 2025/26 financial year, up from R79.9 million the year before. Officials appeared before Parliament to account for audit findings; the three institutions managed a combined budget of about R38.3 billion and received unqualified audit opinions with findings. Bongani Shabangu, the DBE’s acting deputy director-general for infrastructure, said the department had asked National Treasury to redirect funding it considered excessive for the available projects. Umalusi acknowledged financial compliance failures that contributed to its loss of clean audit status.