Eastern Cape’s tablet programme stalls with devices lost or locked in cupboards

Daily Maverick · 🇿🇦 public South Africa · Aug 12, 2026 · 1455 words · By Gcina Ntsaluba; Zipho Ndwayana; Rod Amner

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What to know about Eastern Cape’s tablet programme stalls with devices lost or locked in cupboards

At Mary Waters High School in Makhanda, educational tablets intended to support matrics are stored in a cupboard.

Claims checked 15

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center100%

Right0%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

At Mary Waters High School in Makhanda, educational tablets intended to support matrics are stored in a cupboard.

Why it matters

The school received 115 of them at the start of 2025.

Common ground

The devices came preloaded with past papers, and each was to receive 50GB of mobile data at the start of every month.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Eastern Cape’s tablet programme stalls with devices lost or locked in cupboards?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that the Eastern Cape has cut its infrastructure budget by 22.6%?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-12-eastern-cape-s-tablet-program…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 15 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

info Single Source 7

schedule Pending 5

help Insufficient Evidence 2

check_circle Corroborated 1

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Claim 1: “the Eastern Cape has cut its infrastructure budget by 22.6%.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 2: “At Mrwetyana Secondary School in Makhanda, the department says 102 tablets were issued, and 82 were returned”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding Mrwetyana Secondary School's tablet issuance or return numbers.

info

Claim 3: “the rollout was split between devices from Rizzen and Huawei.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The GroundUp article mentions the rollout was split between Rizzen and Huawei, but this is not corroborated by other independent sources.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — In 2025, the Eastern Cape Department of Education committed R686-million to equipping 54 000 matriculants with educational tablets and 50GB of monthly data.According to the department’s delivery repor…
https://www.news24.com/southafrica/education/lost-or-locked-…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — That was a possible solution. The Provocation skill allowed a bard to use music to turn dangerous creatures against each other. Success depended on Musicianship, barding skill, creature difficulty, po…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN5OWB46fRY

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Logo: State of New Jersey Department of Education.Report fraud, waste or abuse : Individuals who suspect fraud, waste or abuse is occurring with public funds, should contact the Office of State Comptr…
https://www.nj.gov/education/

info

Claim 4: “The report, dated 15 May 2025, records that 53,254 of the 54,000 devices had been delivered by that date”

SINGLE SOURCE

The specific delivery number (53,254) and the report date (15 May 2025) are only found in the GroundUp source.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — On 22 January 2026, a school shooting occurred at the Ntabankulu Primary School in Ntabankulu, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Ntuthuzelo Gcaba, a 51-year-old former employee, stormed into Ntabankulu Prim…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Ntabankulu_Primary_School…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Eastern Cape (Afrikaans: Oos-Kaap [ˈuəs.kɑːp]; Xhosa: eMpuma-Kapa; Khoekhoe: Aiǂoas!hub) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (form…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Cape

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Eastern Cape High Court (in full the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa) is a superior court of law with general jurisdiction over the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. T…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Cape_High_Court

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 5: “department spokesperson Mali Mtima said just 64% came back, meaning roughly 19,200 devices were not recovered, valued at around R159-million at cost.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists only of dictionary definitions for the word 'according' and does not contain any information regarding Mali Mtima or the recovery rate of tablets.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Phrasal verb accord with something (Definition of according from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/accordin…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — 6 days ago · Accord is also a noun, meaning "agreement". Thus, we often hear of two countries signing a peace accord; and we also frequently hear of two things or people being "in accord with" each ot…
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/according

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The term according to can be used to attribute something reported — according to the news, the airports are closed (even though according to your friend, they're still open). It also refers to agreeme…
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/according

schedule

Claim 6: “the legislature names MTN as the contractor for the R447-million device purchase.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 7: “each was to receive 50GB of mobile data at the start of every month.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The claim is mentioned in the GroundUp article and a LinkedIn snippet that appears to be quoting the same story. No other independent news organizations are reporting this specific data allocation detail.

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 8: “the department... told the legislature in August 2025 that it had made no payment on the data portion “pending a verification session of the invoices”.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 9: “the report noted that 746 tablets were still owed to 41 schools and listed 165 schools with shortages.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The specific figures regarding 746 tablets owed to 41 schools and 165 schools with shortages are reported by allAfrica (which syndicates GroundUp), but no other independent source confirms these numbers.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 41 Herculis is a binary star in the constellation Hercules. At an apparent magnitude of +6.55, it is very close to the threshold for naked eye visibility, being visible only in locations far from ligh…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/41_Herculis

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Route 165, or Highway 165, may refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highways_numbered_165

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The following highways are numbered 746:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highways_numbered_746

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 10: “The school [Mary Waters High School] received 115 of them at the start of 2025.”

CORROBORATED

Two independent web sources (GroundUp and another news snippet) explicitly state that Mary Waters High School in Makhanda received 115 tablets at the start of 2025.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of high schools in New York City.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_high_schools_in_New_Yo…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Mary Catherine Waters (born c. 1957) is an American sociologist, demographer and author. She is the John L. Loeb Professor of Sociology and the PVK Professor of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_C._Waters

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — USS Waters (DD-115) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I and World War II, later re-designated a high speed transport with the hull identification number APD-8. Sh…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Waters_(DD-115)

+ 3 more evidence sources

help

Claim 11: “101 devices were delivered in mid-January to Port Alfred High School – a Quintile 5, fee-charging school”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding Port Alfred High School receiving 101 devices.

info

Claim 12: “It set aside R686-million for the programme: it committed R447-million on devices, with most of the remainder allocated to providing a 50GB monthly MTN data allocation to each learner, budgeted at R9.6-million per month.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The financial breakdown (R686-million total, R447-million for devices, R9.6-million/month for data) is detailed in the GroundUp article, but not corroborated by other independent sources.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The department set aside R686-million for the programme: it committed R447-million on devices, with most of the remainder allocated to providing a 50GB monthly MTN data allocation to each learner, bud…
https://allafrica.com/stories/202608120176.html

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — In 2025, the Eastern Cape Department of Education committed R686-million to equipping 54,000 matriculants – roughly half of the province’s full-time Grade 12 learners – with educational tablets and 50…
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/christo-hattingh_lost-or-lock…

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web search NEUTRAL — New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education Appoints Colleen Tambuscio as Executive Director. New Jersey Department of Education Recognizes 83 Students as Career & Technical Education Scholar Award R…
https://www.nj.gov/education/

schedule

Claim 13: “At Mpeni Secondary School in Mount Ayliff, school records seen by GroundUp show that of the 102 tablets issued to Grade 12 learners, 86 were returned.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 14: “They were part of an Eastern Cape Department of Education programme that provided devices to 54,000 Grade 12 learners.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The detail about 54,000 Grade 12 learners is reported in the GroundUp article and a LinkedIn snippet quoting the same event, but lacks independent corroboration from a second distinct news organization.

menu_book

+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 15: “MTN – the contractor that supplied both the tablets and the data”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.