The FW de Klerk Foundation welcomes the Western Cape High Court’s judgment directing the Western Cape Education Department (“WCED”) to take firm steps to ensure every learner has access to schooling in 2026.

In Equal Education v Head of Department: Western Cape Education Department, the Court declared that the WCED’s failure to plan for late and very late placement applications leaves learners unplaced for months – some as late as August. This, it held, violated the rights to equality and dignity, children’s rights and the rights to a basic education and just administrative action (sections 9, 10, 28, 29(1)(a) and 33(1) of the Constitution).

“The state must plan and manage its systems in a way that allows constitutional rights to be realised,” says Daniela Ellerbeck, an attorney and the Manager of the FW de Klerk Foundation’s Constitutional Rights Programme. “The Court reminded the WCED that it had already criticised its careless handling of late placement applications. It warned that the Department cannot simply ‘sit back and wait’. It must act proactively to fulfil its constitutional duty.”

A key feature of the judgment is the order that WCED must prepare a full management plan for late applications, extremely late applications and transfer by 28 May 2026.

“The provincial government carries a direct duty to place every learner – even those who apply late,” notes Lusanda Mahkuntsu, an intern at the Foundation. “The judgment sends a clear message: No learner should be left without a school because of administrative failure.”