By Buziwe Nocuze
- A Philippi pre-school owner pays more than R2,000 a month to extortionists and cannot chase away children whose parents owe her fees.
- The 2026 budget adds R12.8 billion over three years for ECD, but the owner says her government subsidy runs out before her bills are paid.
A 60-year-old Philippi woman has run her pre-school for 24 years. She will not give her name. She is afraid of the people taking her money.
She started the school in 2001. Today she has more than 60 children, aged six months to six years, arriving as early as 05:00 every morning. She puts the heater on and waits for classes to open at 07:00. She pays for the paraffin herself.
Fees run from R200 to R500 a month. Many parents cannot pay. Some promise to settle at the end of the month and do not. She cannot turn the children away.
On top of unpaid fees, she pays more than R2,000 every month to multiple extortion groups, plus a R7,000 registration protection fee. When she does not have the money, the extortionists tell her to borrow from loan sharks instead.
“I owe loan sharks money because I didn’t want the extortionists to close the pre-school,” she said.
“But I can see that I will end up closing it because the problems keep piling up.”
The government does give her a subsidy. It is not enough. Her costs include paraffin, electricity, cleaning materials, teachers’ salaries and the payments to extortionists.
“When I started this, I used to see a profit,” she said.
“Not anymore, because everything keeps increasing, including the protection fee.”
Parent Nosipho Qudalele said families like hers rely on child support grants to pay fees, but the money does not always come through.
“We work for EPWP and do not earn a lot of money,” Qudalele said.
“We are grateful for her, and she’s patient.”
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube said learning begins long before Grade 1. The 2026 budget sets aside an additional R12.8 billion over three years to expand ECD programmes to 300,000 more children. The subsidy for nutrition and early learning stays at R24 per child per day.
The owner says that money disappears into her expenses before it can make a difference.
Pictured above: A Philippi pre-school owner is considering closing after 24 years as extortion payments and loan shark debt push her finances past breaking point.
Image source: Supplied
