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By Charmaine Ndlela
Photos taken by Charmaine Ndlela
The Congress of South African Students (COSAS) has demanded that President Cyril Ramaphosa remove Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube over the handling of the Foundation Phase textbook catalogue, implementation of education legislation, and the “targeting” of senior officials in the department.
Gwarube is a Democratic Alliance (DA) MP serving as Basic Education Minister in the Government of National Unity, while COSAS is an ANC-aligned student organisation.
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The organisation has accused Gwarube of deliberately delaying implementation of the Foundation Phase National Catalogue for Grades 1 to 3 and says it will mobilise students if the President fails to act.
COSAS held a media briefing at Luthuli House Media Centre in Johannesburg on Tuesday, following the Department of Basic Education’s announcement that the 2026 Foundation Phase National Catalogue had been approved for immediate implementation.
The catalogue, which covers learning and teaching support materials for Grades 1 to 3, was endorsed by the Council of Education Ministers (CEM) on 18 September 2026, finally clearing the way for provinces to begin procurement for the 2027 academic year.
COSAS Secretary-General Unesongo Matikinca said the organisation remained concerned about the timing of the catalogue’s implementation and the potential impact on textbook procurement and delivery.
He said the organisation had been raising “concerns” about the minister and the state of basic education for about two years and believed the time had come to intensify its campaign.
“The president must act on this minister. And the action that is required now is that of a complete removal,” Matikinca said.
COSAS has also criticised Gwarube over the implementation of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Act.
The organisation has accused the minister of delaying aspects of its implementation. The DBE, however, says the BELA Act has been in force since 24 December 2024 and that implementation is continuing, with further draft regulations published for public comment in August 2026.
Matikinca said COSAS was particularly concerned about the delay in finalising the Foundation Phase catalogue, which was an important link between learners and access to quality learning materials.
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On 19 September, the DBE announced that the catalogue had been approved and endorsed and that provinces could use it immediately. The department said procurement had already commenced.
According to the DBE, the decision followed a review process involving an Auditor-General of South Africa audit, an independent investigation and legal opinions from the department’s internal legal services and external Senior Counsel.
In a statement, the department said the reviews had confirmed the integrity of the process and found “NO FRAUD, NO FAVOURITISM, and therefore NO BASIS TO CANCEL (sic)”.
However, that did not mean the process was found to be free of defects.
Earlier in September, the DBE said the independent investigation had identified material areas of non-compliance, governance weaknesses and potential procurement and financial-management risks.
Gwarube had maintained that allegations not being substantiated did not amount to the entire process receiving a clean bill of health, while the department said recommendations from the reviews would be incorporated into strengthened governance and administration around learning and teaching support materials.
“[B]y delaying this catalogue from being released, how does [Gwarube] expect provincial education departments to budget for a catalogue that she has released only on the 19th of September, whereas beginning of the next year, in January, learners from Grade 1 to 3 are supposed to receive textbooks?” Matikinca said.
He accused Gwarube of deliberately delaying the catalogue and alleged that political considerations were influencing the department.
The catalogue includes materials for Home Language, First Additional Language, Mathematics, Life Skills and Coding and Robotics, and provides for 40 readers per class and a core reader per learner.
According to the department, full implementation is projected to cost about R1.6 billion, compared with about R4.6 billion for equivalent requirements under the previous catalogue, a projected difference of about R3 billion.
COSAS has also alleged that political and private interests influenced the handling of the catalogue and that particular companies stood to benefit.
“These are the issues that we as COSAS are questioning. We are saying that there has been a lie that South Africans have been getting told over time to say there are irregularities in the process of the compilation of the catalogue,” Matikinca said.
“It is being delayed particularly because these big anti-progressive, anti-transformative multinational companies must benefit at the expense of learners. The DA is trying to sell the department to private individuals,” Matikinca said.
Matikinca also accused Gwarube of targeting senior black officials within the department and referred to the lifestyle audit involving Director-General Mathanzima Mweli.
“We’re going to defend those directors. We’re going to defend those staff members of the department that the minister continues to abuse through those personal attacks that she does and professional attacks as well,” Matikinca said.
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Mweli said in a statement issued on Monday that he supported lifestyle audits and was willing to undergo one.
He disputed reports that he had refused an audit, saying his concerns related to how the process would be conducted, including the handling of confidential and personal information. He said he had himself proposed voluntary lifestyle audits involving the department’s senior political and administrative leadership.
The COSAS secretary-general also raised concerns about school infrastructure, nutrition, learner transport and overcrowding, saying greater attention should be given to conditions facing learners in disadvantaged communities.
“The rights of learners in particular are supposed to benefit from the work of the staff members that we are saying are being abused and are also being infringed,” Matikinca said.
“A good example is this catalogue that was issued late because of personal vendettas that the minister so happens to have with black progressives.”
COSAS president Kamogelo Nkosi said the organisation was no longer prepared to continue making demands without escalating its action.
Nkosi gave Ramaphosa seven days to remove Gwarube.
“We’re very disappointed by the President of South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa, that he doesn’t want to act,” Nkosi said.
He said the organisation intended to begin mobilising students for a march in the first week of October, with the date, route and other details to be announced later.
“We’re going to start next week, first week of October. We’re coming here with our students to demand the removal of the minister,” Nkosi said.
He said the mobilisation would also focus on school safety, learner transport and overcrowding.
“We know that we’re in the Government of National Unity. But the head of that Government of National Unity is the President, Cyril Ramaphosa. So he must act,” he said.
The post Cosas gives Ramaphosa seven days to remove Gwarube, threatens protests appeared first on Inside Education..
