POOR results in South African schools are mirrored by an auditor-general's report which has found that three provincial education departments – including the Eastern Cape's – could not explain what they did with the more than R44-billion they were allocated.

The auditor-general told Parliament yesterday that only three of the country's provincial education departments received clean audits for the 2009/10 financial year – Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

The worst managers of public money were education departments in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and the North West. All received disclaimer audit opinions, which means the auditor-general could not verify the entries in their books.

The Eastern Cape and Limpopo also produced among last year's worst matric results.

Meisie Nkau, a business executive in the office of the auditor-general, told MPs: "There was a lack of internal controls totally. It is disappointing to note that three of the nine provinces regressed when we should be working towards a clean administration."

The Eastern Cape, the worst province in terms of financial management, received R20-billion from Treasury but could not explain how R1.5-billion of that was spent.

Meanwhile, a study conducted by Stellenbosch University has shown that almost half (47%) of Grade 3 pupils in the Western Cape cannot read and write to the required standard. In addition, only 35% are sufficiently skilled in maths.

Education expert Graham Bloch said literacy and numeracy levels in the Western Cape and Gauteng were generally higher than the rest of the country.

"The Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Mpumalanga perform badly in all phases," he said. – The Times, Avusa Group News