The visit was a result of the Committee's engagement with the Department of Basic Education during the 2011 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) period. An amount of R700 million which had initially been unallocated in the 2011/12 Division of Revenue Act at the start of the 2011/12 financial year was now allocated to the Department of Basic Education for the eradication of inappropriate schools infrastructure. Of note was the fact that this amount of R700 million had to be spent by the end of the 2011/12 financial year. The bulk of the allocated money (R520.7 million) was to be used for the construction of 50 schools in the Eastern Cape Province which had the highest number of mud schools in the country.