Parliamentary reply puts the national educator vacancy rate at 7%
South Africa has 27,092 unfilled teaching posts on the government payroll system, at a time when qualified teachers are struggling to find work. The figure was disclosed by Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube in a written reply to Parliament, and it translates into a national educator vacancy rate of 7%.
Gwarube said the numbers are drawn from PERSAL, the state’s personnel and salary system, as at 30 June 2026.
The reply answered a question from Patriotic Alliance MP Ashley Sauls, who asked for a full breakdown of teaching and non-teaching vacancies across the country.
A separate figure in the reply points to posts that are not being advertised at all. The department said PERSAL recorded 2,654 educator posts with the status “Frozen” as at 30 June 2026.
Gwarube attached a caution to that number. “This figure reflects the PERSAL system status and should not be interpreted as establishing that all 2,654 posts were deliberately frozen due to budget constraints,” she said, adding that current provincial submissions do not yet allow the department to provide a complete, verified national breakdown of posts frozen for budget reasons.
What the vacancies mean for classrooms and for jobless teachers
The department was explicit that an empty line on a payroll system is not the same as an empty classroom.
“Provincial Education Departments may, where appropriate, use temporary or acting arrangements pending the filling of substantive vacancies. Accordingly, the existence of a recorded substantive vacancy does not necessarily mean that the relevant class or function is unattended,” Gwarube said.
That distinction matters for parents, because it means the 27,092 figure describes posts on an establishment rather than a headcount of unattended classes. It matters for teachers in a different way, because a post filled on a temporary or acting basis is not a permanent appointment.
The context is a labour market under strain. Statistics South Africa reported this week that the official unemployment rate rose to 33.6% in the second quarter of 2026, with 8.5 million people unemployed and total employment down by 16,000 over the quarter.
Gwarube also noted that vacancy numbers move continuously as posts become vacant, are filled, appointments are converted and provincial establishments are updated, and that any appointment or conversion remains subject to the applicable requirements, the availability and funding of the post, and recruitment processes.
Where the vacant teaching posts are, province by province
The provincial breakdown supplied in the reply:
| Province | Vacant teaching posts |
|---|---|
| Eastern Cape | 5,730 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 4,700 |
| Gauteng | 3,994 |
| Western Cape | 3,562 |
| Limpopo | 3,097 |
| North West | 2,346 |
| Mpumalanga | 1,866 |
| Northern Cape | 1,521 |
| Free State | 276 |
| National total | 27,092 |
The provincial figures add exactly to the national total of 27,092, a calculation performed by Southafriworld against the reply.
Two provinces stand out at opposite ends. The Eastern Cape carries more than a fifth of all vacant posts on its own, while the Free State records 276, fewer than a tenth of the next lowest province. The reply does not explain the gap between them, and the department has not published the establishment size for each province alongside the vacancy counts, which would show how the 7% national rate is distributed.
Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape together account for 14,424 of the vacancies, more than half the national figure.
The reply covered teaching and non-teaching vacancies, and the frozen-post figure of 2,654 relates specifically to educator posts.
What the department still has to publish
Several gaps remain in the record. The department has told Parliament it cannot yet supply a verified national breakdown of how many posts were frozen because of budget constraints, so the scale of budget-driven freezing is unknown.
No timeline has been given for filling the 27,092 posts, the reply does not state how many of the vacancies are currently covered by temporary or acting appointments, and no figure has been published for how many qualified but unemployed teachers are waiting for placement.
The next fixed markers are the department’s further submissions to Parliament on frozen posts, the next round of provincial post establishment updates, and the third quarter Quarterly Labour Force Survey from Statistics South Africa in November.
