Education department blames late applications for unplaced learners

Hundreds of desperate parents queued outside the Western Cape Education Department’s offices in Mitchells Plain on Friday. Simnikiwe Qingani arrived at 6am, trying to secure school places for his daughter and niece. Photo: Marecia Damons

• As the 2026 academic year enters its second week, some learners in the Western Cape are still awaiting school placements.
• On Friday, over 200 parents queued outside the Western Cape Education Department’s offices in Mitchells Plain, trying to enrol their children.
• The department said it received nearly 11,000 late applications.

As schools reopened this week, some learners are still without places, leaving parents to seek assistance from Western Cape Education Department (WCED) offices.

When GroundUp arrived at the district office in Mitchells Plain at 7:30am, more than 200 parents were already queuing in the hope of securing places in schools for their children for the academic year ahead.

Simnikiwe Qingani, from Samora Machel, said he arrived at 6am. He has a grade-2 daughter and grade-9 niece.

“I applied last year in September online. Then we went to about five or seven schools, but they said we must go to the Department of Education,” he said.

Qingani said he never received feedback on his applications.

“The department said that when we’ve applied online, we’ll receive an SMS. But we still haven’t, so coming here is our second option.”

He said it was his third visit to the department this week.

“The first time I came I was at the back of the line and they sent me home, because they said they take 300 a day. I came again yesterday and they gave me a form to take to the school. But at the school, they said I needed an SMS. So now I’m back here.”

“By the time my daughter goes to school, she’s going to be behind … that’s why I’m following up because this is very stressful. But we’re going to keep on trying.”

Tabisa Mahlamvu, from Nyanga, who was number 190 in the queue, was trying to enrol her 15-year-old niece in grade 9.

Her niece had previously attended a school in Rosebank, but the family decided to take her out in February last year because she wasn’t coping.

“I started applying for schools in the area since February last year, but I struggled and never got a school.”

Her niece is now a year behind.

She said she went to the department’s offices in the city centre last year and submitted all the relevant documents. She received a confirmation SMS, but her niece still has not been placed in a school.

“I’m hoping I get help [here today], because my niece is crying nearly every day. She has a lot of anger… Even when you make a joke, she cries.”

“I will take any school as long as she goes to school,” said Mahlamvu.

She applied to Fezeka High, New Eisleben High and Intshukumo Secondary.

Late applications

WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the department was processing a significant number of late applications. As of 7 January 2026, 180,960 learners had been placed, with 96% in Grades R, 1, and 8. Placement was still in progress for 7,540 learners. Since 1 November 2025, she said the department had received 10,666 late applications, creating planning challenges.

“Late applications … disrupt planning for learner placement, resource allocation, and staffing, and place additional strain on the department to place learners immediately during a period when schools are closed for the holidays,” Hammond said.

She said placing learners will pick up as schools finalise enrolment lists and learners, who do not arrive without valid reasons, are deregistered on the tenth school day.

There are 1.2 million learners in Western Cape schools in 2026 according to the department. Nine new schools had been completed for the year, with two more opening in phases, and 175 new classrooms added to existing schools.

Meanwhile, in 2024 and 2025, Equal Education and five learners took the WCED to court over late admissions, arguing that poor planning had left some learners excluded from schools for months or even an entire academic year.

The Western Cape High Court ordered the department to develop a management plan within six months to address the crisis.

Hammond said the WCED is appealing the ruling “as we have serious concerns about the process and findings of the court”.

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