Thousands of learners across eThekwini’s Section 21 schools have been granted temporary relief from electricity and water disconnections following an agreement between the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and the eThekwini Municipality.
The agreement, announced this week, suspends all utility cut-offs to schools until September 2027. It also confirms that the Department of Education will settle outstanding municipal debt owed by schools up to March 2026. The decision follows years of concern about the impact of disconnections on children’s education, safety and wellbeing.
The intervention is expected to bring significant relief to schools across Durban communities including Chatsworth, Phoenix, Reservoir Hills, Merebank, Newlands, Asherville and surrounding areas, where fears over service interruptions had created uncertainty for educators, parents and school governing bodies.
Section 21 schools are granted financial management powers, which often carry responsibility for managing municipal accounts and operational costs. Many schools had reportedly accumulated significant municipal debt amid ongoing billing disputes and financial pressures.
Councillor Jonathan Annipen led the fight against the disconnections. In 2023, he tabled a formal motion before the eThekwini Municipal Council calling for an immediate halt to school disconnections. During council debates, he argued that cutting water and electricity to schools disrupted learning, affected sanitation, compromised feeding schemes, and created unsafe environments for learners and teachers.
“Schools cannot be treated like ordinary debtors when the consequences directly affect children’s education, safety and wellbeing,” Annipen said.
When disconnections continued despite appeals, Annipen escalated the matter in February 2026 by lodging a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission. The complaint argued that utility cut-offs infringed on learners’ constitutional rights to dignity, education, health and access to basic services.
“This victory belongs to every learner who deserves uninterrupted access to education, every teacher who has worked under difficult conditions, and every parent who demanded better for their children,” Annipen said.
The move intensified scrutiny on both the municipality and the provincial education department, ultimately leading to negotiations that resulted in the current agreement.
For many working-class communities in Durban, schools serve as more than educational institutions. They are often community hubs that provide stability, nutrition programmes, cultural activities and safe spaces for children. Any disruption to basic services can have ripple effects far beyond the classroom.
Residents in Phoenix have repeatedly raised concerns in recent years about the impact of municipal debt and service delivery challenges on schools already struggling with limited resources.
While welcoming the breakthrough, education stakeholders have urged schools and governing bodies to use the suspension period responsibly by ensuring meters are functional, repairing leaks and electrical faults, monitoring municipal accounts, and strengthening financial oversight to prevent avoidable debt from accumulating again.
The agreement now gives schools a crucial window to stabilise operations while long-term solutions are explored between government departments and the municipality.
For educators and parents who feared learners would once again face classrooms without electricity or running water, the announcement represents more than administrative relief. It is a restoration of certainty and dignity within the schooling environment.
Dr. Jonathan Annipen Jonathan Annipen welcomed the decision by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and eThekwini Municipality to suspend electricity and water disconnections at Section 21 schools until September 2027, describing it as a major victory for learners, educators and vulnerable communities across eThekwini.
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