Education is one of the priority areas of the state. The Department of Education is mandated by the South African Constitution to provide quality education to all learners. As such, huge amounts of money have been spent on education, but the question is, are these public funds spent for a good cause or not; if yes, what impact have they made and if no, why not? The study was carried out following mixed research methods. The primary data was collected from the key informants using questionnaires, interviews and documentary surveys, including observation. The study undertaken expresses, in no uncertain terms, governance concerns arguing that the Department of Basic Education is not committed to educating the learners by executing their school roles properly within the rule of law. Arguably, governance and incapacities continue to present themselves as two of the main challenges of the Department of Basic Education and this must be remedied.
Human Sciences Research Council (2026) studied this question.