By Zipho Ndwayana, Sphosetu Mpakanyiswa, Thandolwethu Khumalo and Rod Amner
The Eastern Cape Department of Basic Education resumed distributing tablets with educational materials to matric learners in February 2025, but serious questions remain unanswered about oversight, equity, and value for money – five years after the R538 million contract for a similar 2020 project was flagged as “irregular”.
In Makhanda, only three of six Quintile 1-3 schools, Mrwetyana, Mary Waters and Khutliso Daniels, have received tablets for their matric students this year. However, a local principal told Grocott’s Mail that these devices have mainly become unusable after MTN allegedly cut off data services due to unpaid bills from the Department.
The remaining three schools serving disadvantaged communities – Ntsika, Nombulelo, and Nyaluza – are still waiting for their allocations, raising questions about the Department’s distribution criteria and timeline.
The current rollout comes against the backdrop of ongoing investigations into the original 2020 contract with Sizwe Africa IT. That deal was flagged as irregular by provincial treasury, with investigations revealing massive markups — including a 407% markup on interactive screens.
Grocott’s Mail sent 15 questions to the Eastern Cape Director of Communication, Vuyiseka Mboxela, this week. Her response: “The distribution of tablets is based on the number of learners in a school, not necessarily a school.”
Grocott’s understands this to mean that there is a limited number of tablets to distribute and that the decision to supply Khutliso (about 100) and Mretyana (about 90) did not elevate one school over another, but was based on matching available tablets to the number of learners in some schools.
We asked whether, if there weren’t enough tablets for all matrics in this year’s cohort, it was fair to distribute to some schools and not others. We also asked whether the Department planned to procure enough tablets to supply all Eastern Cape matrics with tablets in 2026, and if the Department planned to pay MTN for data so that Khutliso and Mrwetyana matrics could make the best use of the tablets.
Answers to these and numerous other questions about current procurement processes, oversight mechanisms, and value-for-money assessments were not forthcoming.
The Department’s expensive tablet approach contrasts sharply with cost-effective alternatives like Rhodes University Community Engagement’s Vulindlela SD card project, which provides educational content at around R120 per learner compared to the R9 781 per tablet cost documented in the original contract.
RUCE’s Vulindlela co-ordinator Thandie Nqowana said SD cards – packed with tens of gigabytes of CAPS-aligned educational videos, study guides and past exam papers and memos – had been distributed to Ntsika, Nyaluza, Mrwetyana, and Khutliso Daniels this year. “We are still busy with Nombulelo’s SD cards. It was difficult to get Mary Waters to send us their list of learners and subjects, so their SD cards have been delayed.”
Research conducted earlier this year by RUCE with 2024 matriculants at several Makhanda schools revealed that the SD cards had been critical to their academic success.
Over several days, Grocott’s Mail attempted to reach the Department’s communications director to comment on specific questions relating to the tablet program. The journalist’s WhatsApp messages were read but ignored, and phone calls went unanswered.
Questions submitted to the spokesperson included:
- What due diligence was conducted before proceeding with the 2025 distribution?
- How does the Department measure the educational impact of the program?
- What is the total value of the current contract?
- How many tablets have been distributed in 2025?
- What content is available to learners?
- What oversight mechanisms prevent future irregularities?
- Will regular progress reports be published?
The Department’s failure to adequately engage with Grocott’s Mail on this public interest matter follows a concerning pattern. The original 2020 contract sparked widespread criticism after investigations by Daily Maverick and Grocott’s Mail revealed procurement irregularities and inflated pricing.
In February 2025, The Daily Dispatch reported that Eastern Cape education MEC Fundile Gade had confirmed plans to revive the controversial e-learning tablet project. In the report, Gade reportedly said he was “tired” of dragged-out court cases and was forging ahead with the project. He revealed that his Department was set to roll out more than 50,000 e-learning devices to Grade 12 pupils in quintiles 1, 2 and 3 provincial schools, as part of its ICT learning strategy.
