Ongoing

  1. ElectionsHot
  2. US mid-termsHeating up
  3. AICooling
NewsbriefSouth Africa, briefly.
JoburgJHB29°69%
CTCT21°90%
PretoriaPTA33°75%
DurbanDBN30°20°

Equal Education marches to Parliament over school budget cuts

Published

Equal Education and other organisations marched to Parliament on Wednesday, before Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tabled the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement at 2 pm. They accuse the government of undermining learners' access to quality education.

Demonstrators sat outside Parliament while they waited for the budget to be delivered. The organisations say austerity measures deepen inequality and put more pressure on vulnerable communities.

Equal Education says education has been sidelined since 2020. It says teacher posts were cut, allocations for school nutrition programmes fell, and infrastructure budgets did not keep pace with inflation.

Itumeleng Motlabame, Secretary General of Equal Education, said the cuts affect learners directly. He said: "Our learners continue to learn in overcrowded schools. They continue to start the year without scholar transport."

The marching organisations want the mid-term budget to show a clear commitment to protecting essential services. They say the burden of austerity should not fall on those who can least afford it.

Key facts

Who
Enoch Godongwana (Finance Minister, preparing to table the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement…); Itumeleng Motlabame (Secretary General of Equal Education); Equal Education (NGO that led the march to Parliament)
What
Equal Education led a march to Parliament, accusing the government of undermining learners' access to quality education through budget cuts; demonstrators sat outside Parliament awaiting the Budget's delivery.
When
21 October 2026
Where
Parliament
Status
Reported

Related stories

Elections Hot

What you need to know

Voting in the 2026 Local Government Elections is under way at 23,696 stations, and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) reported a smooth start on 4 November. Stations opened at 7am and close at 9pm, and by 10am preliminary figures showed 3,523,691 voters had cast ballots.

There were problems: unused ballot papers were stolen from Mnyameni Secondary School near Durban, police opened a case, and the IEC relieved the station staff of duty. Some voters in Tshwane said they were turned away for wearing party shirts, but the IEC denied this and said only mayoral candidates' entourages were barred.

ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe told members not to query the results or discredit the IEC, while the IEC said false online claims show routine procedures as fraud.

  1. BOSA's Solomons flags one-ballot problem at Cape Town voting stations
  2. Mashatile urges new councillors to put voters first
  3. IEC dismisses MK Party worry about dead people on voters' roll

See every update

US mid-terms Heating up

What you need to know

Democrats won back both the US House and Senate in the midterm elections held on 3 November, according to media projections. Exit polls showed voters were angry about high prices and the direction of the country, and rebuked President Donald Trump.

Before the vote, US forces struck targets on Qeshm Island in Iran, while Republicans struggled to defend the war against Iran on the campaign trail. Iranian officials said US voters rejected the war, and Tehran stayed on high alert for possible new US strikes.

Markets reacted, with the dollar hitting a one-month low and the rand firming to around R16.55, as analysts pointed to fears of gridlock in Washington.

  1. Iran welcomes Democratic wins in US midterm elections
  2. Democrats win US Congress in midterm vote, projections show
  3. Ramaphosa wants US trade deal after AGOA suspension

See every update

AI Cooling

What you need to know

Nvidia has told its cloud computing clients to sell at least 51% of their services to non-Chinese companies, according to five people with knowledge of the matter. Anthropic said it has committed to spend close to $900bn on AI infrastructure, and that its computing costs are rising faster than its revenues.

Elsewhere, reports from unnamed sources say OpenAI's latest funding round is falling short of expectations, and a judge let the NAACP pollution case against xAI proceed. In South Africa, the VAST AI investment scheme went offline on 30 October after withdrawals marked approved did not arrive, according to a news investigation.

  1. Accenture faces accusations over AI report with false citations
  2. CrowdStrike to buy two AI security startups
  3. Google lets schools turn off AI tools but limits Search

See every update