Are Western Cape schools really keeping black and coloured pupils on waiting lists for schools with space? Province responds
· Citizen
The question over whether Western Cape schools are discriminating in admissions based on race has swirled for months, with the province’s education department this week sharing its findings with parliament.
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The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) presented its assessment to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on Tuesday. This came amid allegations of racial profiling and concerns about whether black and coloured pupils were being kept on waiting lists despite schools having space.
The issue follows findings previously presented by the Department of Basic Education (DBE), which flagged concerns with the province’s admissions system, including that “only African and Coloured pupils” appeared on waiting lists collected from schools in the Western Cape.
The findings formed part of a follow-up engagement into allegations of racial profiling and discrimination in learner admissions.
Speaking to The Citizen after the presentation in June, Western Cape Education MEC David Maynier labelled the meeting “a complete shambles” and disputed the characterisation of the DBE’s process, saying it was an evaluation rather than an investigation.
Province conducts own review
The WCED told Parliament this week that it had not been given access to the final DBE investigation report. Therefore, it could not verify the findings attributed to it.
“Without access to the DBE’s report, the WCED could not investigate the alleged racial profiling findings. Therefore, it carried out its own review of school admission policies,” the department said.
The review examined the admission policies of 10 public schools that received the highest number of applications in 2025.
The department said it assessed the policies against the Constitution, the South African Schools Act, the National Admission Policy for Ordinary Public Schools and the WCED’s own admissions requirements.
It found “no evidence of racial profiling or the use of race as an admission criterion”.
According to the WCED, all 10 schools expressly prohibited unfair discrimination in their admission policies and were aligned with the relevant legal frameworks.
Late applications drive admissions pressure
The department also presented research into extremely late Grade 10 applications received at its Head Office walk-in centre in February 2026.
It analysed a dataset of 431 applications. It examined factors such as population group, reasons for applying, province or country of origin, applicant age, and undocumented or foreign learner status.
The WCED said “all 431 applicants were recorded and processed” and that there was no evidence of racial filtering at intake.
It further reported that it had placed 70 520 extremely late applicants during the 2026 academic year. This was regardless of race or documentation status.
The department said admissions decisions were based on “available space, feeder zones, and application date – not race”.
It attributed the demographic profile of late applicants to migration and mobility. This was particularly due to movement from the Eastern Cape to the Western Cape.
The WCED said that new registrations and learners seeking better prospects each accounted for 114 applications in its sample of 431 applications. This represented 53% combined.
Province says admissions system under pressure
The department said the high number of late applications placed significant pressure on infrastructure, teacher provisioning, learning materials, and budgets.
It said its Rapid School Build programme had resulted in 25 new schools and 1 661 additional classrooms to accommodate growth.
For 2027, the WCED said it would strengthen admissions planning through measures including verifying planned enrolment figures and identifying available learner places. In addition, it mentioned engaging regularly with schools and governing bodies.
The department also highlighted weekly district admissions meetings and additional access channels. These included walk-in centres, a call centre, email access and a zero-rated SAMI system.
On the legal challenge involving Equal Education, the WCED said leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal was granted on 5 June 2026.
The High Court order concerning implementation has been suspended pending the appeal. The department said it is awaiting further developments.