KZN loses ECD subsidy battle as court rules delayed payments unconstitutional

More than 1,000 Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners gathered outside the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday when they applied for the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department’s “irregular, inconsistent and delayed” payment of subsidies to be declared unlawful and unconstitutional.

Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners have won a legal battle against the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department after the Pietermaritzburg High Court found that the department’s handling of subsidy payments was unconstitutional.

The ruling comes after the Friends of South Africa ECD Forum and the KZN ECD Alliance approached the court, with the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) acting on their behalf, over what they described as “irregular, inconsistent and delayed” payments that left centres struggling to operate.

The organisations argued that access to early childhood development is a constitutionally protected right and that delays in subsidy payments had placed hundreds of centres under severe financial pressure.

The department did not oppose the application.