Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Ziyambi Ziyambi has defended schools’ use of debt collectors to recover outstanding fees, saying parents have a responsibility to meet their financial obligations but learners should not be penalised for their failure to pay.
Ziyambi, who was responding to questions in Parliament on Wednesday on behalf of the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, said schools sometimes resorted to debt collectors under difficult circumstances when parents failed to settle outstanding payments.
However, he said schools should release examination results and allow learners to continue with their education while pursuing parents for the money owed.
“Do not punish the pupil, give the learner their results and let them proceed with their education uninterrupted, but go for the parent,” Ziyambi said.
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He warned that the Government would take action against schools that withheld examination results over unpaid fees.
“If the school withholds results, we go for the school,” he said.
Ziyambi was responding to concerns raised by legislators over schools charging interest and penalties on overdue fees, with some parents reportedly facing additional financial pressure from debt recovery measures.
MP Meliphiner Gwabeni had asked the Government to clarify its position on interest charged by both government and private schools, arguing that the practice placed an additional burden on parents experiencing financial difficulties.
Ziyambi said the Government did not have a policy allowing government-owned schools to charge interest on overdue fees.
He, however, said privately owned schools could enter into agreements with parents on payment deadlines and interest charges, adding that the Government would not interfere where parents had willingly accepted such conditions.
“We have schools where parents willingly subscribe to certain conditions in terms of paying fees. The Government cannot interfere,” he said.
“If you agree that you want to send your child to a particular school and the school then indicates that we need our fees on the 5th of the month and if you do not pay your fees, you will disturb us and therefore will levy you an interest. If you sign that, it is an agreement between two parties. The Government will not interfere with that.”
Pumula MP Sichelesile Mahlangu questioned whether parents were adequately consulted before schools imposed interest charges or referred them to debt collectors.
“There are some schools where there will be no agreement as stated by the Hon. Minister. This agreement stipulates that there are supposed to be interest charges that are going to be introduced when fees are not paid and also including the debt collectors. There will be no communication between parents and the school pertaining to debt collectors and the interest.”
“We want to understand how this is going to be handled. We understand that there are some arrangements that the parents and the schools make. What is the position whereby schools are just sending the letters and also asking for interest without giving the parents any options to give their voice,” she said.
In response, Ziyambi said parents facing difficulties paying fees should engage school authorities to negotiate payment arrangements. He argued that schools generally communicated outstanding balances before resorting to debt recovery measures.
“Maybe in rare circumstances, schools do not inform parents who are owing, that you are owing us, can you pay up. Schools, under very difficult circumstances, end up engaging debt collectors. So I think if we want to be truthful to ourselves, we need to educate each other that if you have your child, it is your responsibility to ensure that fees are paid on time rather than for us to complain about interest charges or being handed over to a debt collector,” he said.
He questioned claims that schools referred parents to debt collectors without first communicating the amounts owed, saying statements showing interest charges suggested that some communication had taken place.
“It would be very strange indeed for us to believe that our schools do not inform the parents of what they owe and they simply send statements with interest. The fact that you receive a statement with interest shows that there is some communication that has been going on. So my response would be, let us just be responsible parents and leaders and if you owe and you are unable, engage the school authorities so that you can have an arrangement,” said Ziyambi.
Meanwhile, Cowdray Park MP Arthur Mujeyi raised concerns about schools withholding examination results from pupils whose parents had accumulated unpaid fees over several years.
He cited cases of children who had attended school from Early Childhood Development (ECD) to Grade Seven without paying fees and were then unable to collect their examination results.
“We have been witnessing a lot of schools engaging debt collectors. Now we have children who, from ECD, have not paid school fees up to Grade 7 and have already sat for the examinations. When it is time to collect results, the school withholds the results. What is the Government’s position? Is the child supposed to be given the results when the parent has failed to pay the fees?,” said Mujeyi.
He also described cases in which pupils had completed primary education without clearing their fees and were seeking assistance from legislators to collect their results.
“What is the Government’s position when it comes to collecting the results since no school fees was paid from Grade 1 up to Grade 7? Most of the time these children come asking for the Hon. Member to accompany them to go and collect results without clearing the fees after learning from ECD to Grade 7 without paying school fees,” said Mujeyi.
Ziyambi reiterated that learners should be protected from financial disputes involving their parents, saying schools should pursue parents for outstanding fees without disrupting children’s education.
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