Guest: Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster, Deputy Leader of BOSA
BOSA visited Kwadedangendlale Secondary School in Zola, Soweto, which has been closed and out of operation due to it being unsafe for habitation.
It was over five years ago that parents of learners at the school – after years of complaints to the government falling on deaf ears – closed the school themselves and rendered it hazardous and unsafe. Resorting to protest, parents shut down the school as their last resort.
Despite Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, publishing the Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure in 2013, this school has fallen short of those standards since then.
The government responded swiftly to the parent protests and began wholescale construction on the school – to the estimated value of R27 million. In the meantime, learners were moved to the vacant Ithemba Technical College nearby.
It is now five years and R 27 million later, and the building project at the school has been abandoned due to a disagreement between the contractor and government.
Sadly, this is not the only example. The Department of Infrastructure Development – who oversees school infrastructure - constantly fails to deliver on time and within budget.
Earlier this month they were made aware of J. E. Malepe Senior Secondary School in Tsakane where learners complained of broken windows, doors, furniture, and toilets are going unheard. Funds were allocated in 2021 for the construction of classrooms and however it has now transpired that funds have been mismanaged and is under investigation.
And the list goes on. Semphato Secondary School. Hillcrest Primary School. LG Holele Secondary School. Mayibuye Primary School. Thubelihle Primary School. Ruster Vaal Secondary School. Nanciefield Primary School. Laerskool Frikie Meyer. Ahanang Primary School. These are just the schools we are aware of who were awarded contract projects to restore the schools yet remain abandoned.
Despite routine promises from Premier Panyaza Lesufi, the Gauteng Provincial Government has left thousands of parents and learners in the lurch at schools across the province. The inefficiency and delays are undermining the future of thousands of young South Africans.