Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane, says government has learnt important lessons from the delay in the delivery of textbooks in Limpopo and other provinces.

Chabane was addressing the media during Friday’s post Cabinet briefing, where concerns were raised about the actions that should be taken against those in the education value chain, who do not comply with the set standards of delivering textbooks.

The minister said the series of events surrounding any delay in the delivery of textbooks first had to be understood before any punitive action could be meted out.

“I think there are sufficient measures to utilise in the case where things do not go well because firstly, you have to understand where [the non-delivery] happened; the reason behind it and who is responsible...

“Nevertheless, it is a lesson we’ve learnt this year, particularly with Limpopo and other provinces where textbooks were not delivered on time and learners had to go for a very long period without textbooks.

“We’ve learnt our lessons and we think we have to regroup. Secondly, if something doesn’t work well, the authorities responsible need to take action in order to deal with the problems that might arise if the books are not delivered for our learners,” he said.

Chabane said systems had been put in place to improve from this year’s performance, including setting rigid timeframes in the detailed process that unfolds in the delivery of textbooks.

He said this would help all role players with the early detection of lags in the system.

Chabane said President Jacob Zuma did not table the preliminary report on the late delivery of textbooks in Limpopo during the Cabinet’s three-day lekgotla, which wrapped up yesterday.