THE principal of Penzance Primary School is appealing to the municipality to take steps to address speeding and the resultant accidents on ZK Matthews Road.
This comes after yet another incident occurred on the road outside the school on Saturday, 2 November, in which a vehicle crashed through the school’s boundary wall, down and embankment and came to rest against the school’s Nkulisa Centre.
Hennie Havemann, school principal, said this was the fourth incident of its kind this year, and expressed fears that a similar incident could occur during the day when children are at school.
“The concrete wall above the Nkulisa Centre has been hit by cars four times this year, with the bakkie in the recent accident landing down the bank in an area where children sometimes stand. Fortunately it happened in the evening, but I am worried since there are sometimes events in the evening. This centre is used for aftercare for 450 children between 2pm and 5.15pm during the week, and this is a potential safety issue for the children,” he said.
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Havemann said not only was this a concern, but the fact that the school has had to repair the wall at their own cost every time, is an additional expense the school could do without. He said following the accident on 2 November, the wall was repaired at 8am on Monday, as security concerns dictated it could not be left in a state of disrepair.
Havemann said he had contacted the ward councillor, Mmabatho Tembe at the beginning of the year to discuss the issue, and had also contacted the municipality on numerous occasions.
“Councillor Tembe said she would take this issue up with the municipality, but I have heard nothing more on the matter. My biggest fear is that something will happen to the children in our care. I feel the municipality needs to act on this matter,” he said.
Responding to queries by Berea Mail, Councillor Tembe said she had forwarded the complaint to Metro Police and the eThekwini Transport Authority.
“I received a response saying they will look into it but nothing more came from them thereafter. I will follow up,” she said.
