The public school principals’ views on the legal functions and responsibilities regarding financial management in Limpopo province, South Africa: A missing link.

Abstract

Various legislations such as, Section 16A of the South African Schools Act (SASA) 84 of 1996 (Republic of South Africa, 1996) and the new BELA Act 32 of 2024 posit developments in the legal functions and responsibilities for the school principals to manage school finances appropriately. These functions and responsibilities of public school principals regarding financial management, their relationship with their SGBs and provincial HoDs places them in a network of relationships which could give rise to serious professional management and governance decision making conflicts. These new developments to the school level seems to
have placed principals in a difficult and untenable position regarding whose instructions and requirements to obey: those of the SGBs or the applicable HoDs. This paper investigates the underlying causes of the missing link in the interpretation of public school principals’ legal functions and responsibilities regarding financial management in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. A qualitative study undertaken to explore the views of public-school principals regarding school education financial management as spelt out in legislative framework. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect and generate data from the nineteen (19)
experienced public-school principals that were purposefully selected. A multiple case study design was applied. The study used the Elmore’s (2009) reciprocal accountability as a theoretical framework and thematic analysis was used to identify emerging themes and categories, analyse and interpret the collected data. The findings revealed that the principals are under the impression that the legal functions and responsibilities delegated to them are an attempt by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to transfer powers regarding the management of the finances from SGBs to public-school principals, DBE tries to give principals more power in financial matters due to lack of necessary financial knowledge, skills and expertise. These added legal responsibilities is a way in which DBE aims to hold them responsible and accountable for any financial irregularities and in the most extreme interpretation, to curtail SGB powers in order to put financial control completely in the hands of the principal. The study proposes intensive training workshops for SGBs on financial management regulations and policies as a means to improve the quality of financial management at schools.