Basic education is not for all in South Africa

I'm having the most frustrating time in terms of placing my child into grade 1. I app**** in time to different schools last year for 2025, however non of these schools accepted my son. The response were "limited capacity". To my surprise when I started going to our local office of the DOE, the very schools submitted a list of all rejected students as being on their waiting lists. At the same time communicating with the department regarding available space they currently have. Robert Carruthers School and Learskool Kragbroon in eMalahleni provided these waiting lists where my child had been listed, also provided the available spaces . Using the information obtained from the schools, the DOE started placing kids according to their discretion. They placed kids who didn't even apply to these schools, who live outside the feeder areas. My son is given a school kilometers far from where we stay, way far from my work place. I live in the same area as RCS. I work a few blocks up from the school. Now my son is forced to attend a school where 80% of the students are foreign nationals, even the majority of the teachers are foreign nationals ("disclaimer " I'm not discriminating or being xenophobic), my issue is the english being taught there. South African kids who attend this school speak like foreign nationals. I simply do not want that for my son.

I'm truly disappointed in our DOE, the manner in which the placing was handled. I'm even more angrier at these schools that submit a waiting list and also a submit a number of spaces available. This has no logic to it, it will never make sense however you look at it. Now, I'm still struggling to get a proper school for my son, failed by system.