More than R2 billion in public funds channelled to the Matthew Goniwe School of Leadership and Governance is now under scrutiny, with the Auditor-General of South Africa set to probe recent payments while the Public Protector is being called on to investigate years of alleged oversight failures by the Gauteng Department of Education.
The investigation follows sustained pressure from the Democratic Alliance, which has flagged concerns over funding allocated to the institution since 2019, raising questions about whether taxpayers received measurable value and how the funds were managed.
DA Gauteng education spokesperson Michael Waters said the Auditor-General’s confirmation that the matter will form part of the 2024/25 audit process marks a critical breakthrough.
“This is a victory for the DA's persistent oversight work and a significant step toward accountability,” said Waters.
However, the Auditor-General has made it clear that its probe will be limited to the current audit cycle and will not cover the full period between 2019 and 2024.
In correspondence to Waters, the AGSA said, "We have considered the matters that you have raised and wish to inform you that the audit team will address the concerns during the annual audit for the year ended 2024/25.”
The audit will include an assessment of whether payments delivered value for money but will not cover the full period between 2019 and 2024. The AGSA further advised that concerns relating to earlier years be referred to the Office of the Public Protector.
For the earlier period, the DA has now escalated the matter to the Public Protector, arguing that a broader forensic investigation is needed to account for the full scale of public spending.
At the centre of the controversy is the scale and structure of funding to the school. Legislative records show that funding requests linked to the institution totalled over R2.6 billion between 2019 and 2025, covering a wide range of programmes including educator training, ICT and e-learning, school governance, leadership development, youth programmes and early childhood development.
Annual allocations escalated significantly over the years, rising from about R317 million in 2019/20 to more than R509 million in 2024/25, with major spending directed toward educator development programmes and leadership training initiatives.
The DA argues that despite this sustained funding, there has been little evidence of consistent monitoring or evaluation by the department to determine whether these programmes delivered tangible outcomes.
This concern was reinforced during a Gauteng Legislature portfolio committee meeting in October 2025, where then MEC for Education Matome Chiloane acknowledged that the department does not directly oversee how the institution spends the funds once allocated.
Waters said this represents a fundamental failure of accountability and a breach of obligations under the Public Finance Management Act.
“Shockingly, the department does not understand the law and its obligations to taxpayers,” he said.
He added that the failure to exercise oversight has allowed large sums of public money to flow without adequate scrutiny.
The DA has also questioned the governance of the institution, citing concerns over politically connected individuals linked to the ruling party occupying key roles, further fuelling calls for an independent investigation.
Despite mounting pressure, the Gauteng Department of Education maintained that the matter is being handled through appropriate channels after being approached for comment by The Star.
Department spokesperson Steve Mabona said, "This matter will be attended to by relevant entities, and as such, we will wait for such processes to conclude accordingly.”
The Star