EDUCATION ACCESS: Western Cape parents face admissions anxiety as department blames ‘double-parked’ offers

As anxiety mounts over the Western Cape’s 2027 school placements, the Western Cape Education Department is pleading for patience and says the current lack of space is largely caused by ‘double-parked’ applications. With the 15 June deadline approaching, some parents have voiced concerns that the centralised placement portal sidelines them from well-resourced schools.

On 28 May 2026, the Western Cape Education Department published its much-anticipated admissions outcomes for Grade R, 1, and 8 learners before the 2027 academic year. What was supposed to be a moment of relief for families has instead triggered the annual wave of panic, as parents face rejections, opaque allocation criteria, and the prospect of their children being placed far from home.

The centralised online system has left many families baffled by how placements are actually decided. One parent who spoke to Daily Maverick described the admission process as “flawed”.

“It worked so much better previously when parents could liaise directly with schools for placement. Now it is a very frustrating process that does not make sense because my daughter is not accepted at a school on the next road… how is that possible?” said the mother, who asked to stay anonymous.

Sandisa Mgubasi questioned why the system fails to automatically cap allocations, allowing a lucky few to have multiple offers while others are left empty-handed.

“One child can have three offers while another has none, and we are told to just be patient to see if spaces open up,” she said, adding that parents were hyper-aware that they were all fighting for the same limited pool of well-resourced schools.

Other parents, like Hibury Mhlaba, say the system feels designed to keep them out. This was the second year she applied for her son’s Grade 1 placement, and she has currently had seven unsuccessful outcomes.

“Last year, I applied to five schools and received the same result, appealed at each school, but all appeals were declined,” Mhlaba said. She described her neighbourhood’s local school as one that does the “bare minimum”, forcing her to look further afield.

“I refuse to apply to a school of that nature. Now that I’m applying outside my area to so-called Model C schools, they systematically exclude us,” she said.

Anticipating the backlash, Western Cape Education MEC David Maynier issued a statement before the release on 26 May clarifying that the department did not dictate placements. Instead, individual schools determined admission outcomes based on their own internal policies.

Maynier added that the initial release of r