The GOOD Party has laid criminal charges against former Western Cape Finance MEC Mireille Wenger and former Education MEC David Maynier, accusing them of tabling a “rigged” provincial budget just months before the 2024 national elections.
The party’s Secretary-General, Brett Herron, announced the charges, alleging the two officials knowingly presented a budget as balanced and sustainable while aware of a significant financial shortfall that would impact thousands of teaching posts.
According to Herron, the budget was tabled in the provincial parliament on March 7, 2024. It detailed funding for 37,000 educator positions, assuring legislators that the allocated funds could sustain that level of staffing. However, Herron claims that Wenger and Maynier were already aware at that time of a R3.88 billion shortfall in the compensation budget.
The alleged shortfall was only publicly disclosed by Maynier in August 2024, five months after the budget was adopted and two months after the elections. The announcement revealed that the budget could only sustain approximately 35,000 teachers—a cut of 2,400 posts from what was initially budgeted for in March.
“The outcry when the teacher cuts… were announced in August 2024 is enough to let anyone know that had they announced it in March 2024… it may have affected the election results,” Herron stated, outlining what he believes was the motive for the alleged deception.
He explained that the GOOD Party spent the past year gathering evidence through parliamentary questions and committee meetings before proceeding with the legal action. Herron contends that had the full financial picture been disclosed in March, the provincial parliament could have rejected the budget or made adjustments.
The criminal complaint includes charges of common law fraud, forgery, and uttering—the latter relating to presenting a document containing false information to parliament. The party has also cited a breach of the Powers and Privileges Act, which governs the conduct of members of parliament.
When asked about the recent reports that 1,200 teachers had resigned from Western Cape schools in a single year, Herron drew a parallel, though he noted he had no direct evidence linking the resignations to the budget cuts.
“What you do is burden those teachers who remain in the system with overcrowded classrooms and you burden the children with a poor quality of education,” he said, suggesting the working conditions created by the staff shortages could be a contributing factor to teachers leaving the system.
The case brings renewed scrutiny to the Western Cape’s 2024 budget process and raises serious questions about the transparency of government financial reporting in the lead-up to elections.
