Gauteng MEC Denies Claims of Foreign Nationals Getting Priority in School Placements

• Gauteng MEC Matome Chiloane denied prioritising foreign nationals in school placements
• The department reported that over 2,700 learners remain unplaced amidst ongoing admission challenges
• It said that the online admissions system would remain open for late applications until 30 January 2026
• The Gauteng Education Department confirmed to Briefly News that the claims are misrepresented and false

Justin Williams, a journalist at Briefly News since 2024, covers South Africa’s current affairs. Before joining Briefly News, he served as a writer and chief editor at Right for Education Africa’s South African chapter.

GAUTENG - Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane has dismissed claims that foreign nationals are placed ahead of South African learners in public schools, saying the allegations are misleading and unfounded.

Prioritise foreign nationals

Chiloane said the Gauteng Department of Education had no directive instructing schools or officials to prioritise foreign nationals during learner placements. He added that South African learners were prioritised in accordance with legislation and the department’s admissions and placement procedures.

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The MEC explained that applications for inner grades, from Grades 2 to 7 and Grades 9 to 11, are handled directly by individual schools and are not processed through the GDE Online Admissions system, which only applies to Grade 1 and Grade 8. He said some schools in Gauteng were struggling to accommodate inner-grade applicants and urged them to work closely with district offices to manage placements efficiently.

Department making steady progress

Chiloane said no school is permitted to prioritise foreign nationals over South African learners, and any school or official found contravening admissions policies would be subject to consequence management. He added that the department would not tolerate claims suggesting foreign nationals were given priority at the expense of South African children.

He said the department was making steady progress in the 2026 online admissions process for Grade 1 and Grade 8. According to Chiloane, 2,763 learners across the province remained unplaced, including 735 Grade 1 learners and 2,028 Grade 8 learners. Chiloane said the main challenge remained a lack of capacity in high-pressure areas such as Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg, meaning not all learners could be placed at their preferred schools immediately. He added that the department was working diligently to identify available spaces and ensure every qualifying learner was accommodated as fairly and efficiently as possible.

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System remain open for late applications

He said the online admissions system, which opened for late Grade 1 and Grade 8 applications on 17 December 2025, had so far processed and placed 27,140 late applications, including 14,273 for Grade 1 and 12,867 for Grade 8, and that all late applications resulted in immediate and final placements at schools with available capacity.

The Gauteng Education Department told Briefly News that the admissions processes are clear, lawful and fair.

"We remain committed to ensuring that every child who qualifies for placement is accommodated at a public school in Gauteng. We will not allow false and inflammatory claims to undermine the work of the Department, or sow division in our communities," MEC Chiloane said.

Chiloane said the online system would remain open for late applications until 30 January 2026, displaying only schools with available space. Late applicants may select only one school, after which learners are placed for the 2026 academic year. He reiterated that the department remained committed to ensuring that every qualifying child is accommodated in Gauteng public schools and that the admissions processes were lawful, fair, and had never prioritised foreign nationals over South African learners.

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50 Limpopo learners take on Department of Education in court

In another article, Briefly News reported that 50 former Limpopo pupils are challenging their withheld exam results over alleged cheating in court.

Section27 claimed that no evidence of cheating had been presented by the Limpopo Department of Education.

Source: Briefly News