Challenges of financial management in Mopani District Schools, Limpopo Province

Abstract

When the ANC-led government took power in 1994, it made commitment to redress the imbalances of the past by providing capacity building of SGBs on financial management skills. The government enacted the South African School Act (SASA) no. 84 of 1996 as one of the policies aimed at improving the quality of education. The SASA, Section 19 directs the Head of Department(HOD) to provide introductory training to the SGBs to enable them to perform their financial functions. Despite some strides made by the democratic government on capacity building of SGBs, the findings of these study revealed that schools’ financial management remains a very serious challenge to some schools. The aim of this study was to examine the financial management challenges of the Mopani District Schools in the Limpopo Province. The SASA mandates SGBs to account on the management of public funds in schools. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this research study. The literature review reveals that SGB members are ill-equipped for their financial roles because they are inadequately trained. The literature review also shows that the SGBs can make informed decisions if they are adequately trained and conversant with the language used in finance policies and finance documents. The study found that; some SGB members have not been subjected to training in financial management. Some only have primary school education and the language used in the financial documents and financial transactions makes it difficult for them to perform their financial responsibilities. Some budgets are only developed for compliance with departmental directive but not realistic because of the lack of SGB capacity. Budget implementation is a challenge hence schools incur expenditure not budgeted for. Some schools do not have internal control. The recommendations briefly outline the findings of this study that and change the status quo if implemented.