WORK is currently on hold on site of the proposed school for Autistic children in Acton Road, Umbilo.
This comes after Port Natal Pre-Primary School’s attorneys took action against the Education Department and Department of Public Works in September, to halt work on the proposed school after bulldozers arrived on site to pull down trees and clear the land at the property which borders the pre-school.
Speaking to Berea Mail, Erica Bezuidenhout from Port Natal Pre-Primary School said the school had been at the property for 50 years, and recently found out they were to be moved out due to the establishment of a school for Autism by the Department of Education. The school and the governing body had not been advised about the proposed plans, and Dawid Verwey, chairperson of the governing body of Port Natal Pre-primary School, said the governing body had to be informed of such intention and notice would need to be put up to enable the school and community to make representations and/or objections to the development.
Bezuidenhout said the school governing body had hired an attorney and the matter had been heard in the high court in September. An order to stop work was issued.
The case was heard once again on Thursday, 8 October, and the Department of Education was given three weeks to provide documents regarding the proposed school for Autism.
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“All we have been told is the Department intends to open an Autistic school from the school premises and in this regard intends to close our school, but to date they have not come up with any papers, not even with the first step. The Department wants us to drop the case, however we will be going to court again on 19 November,” she said.
According to Bezuidenhout, the establishment of a Maritime School at the property was proposed some years back.
“We have requested minutes from council meetings between 2016 and 2019 where the plans were allegedly approved, however we have received nothing. We are adamant that our school stays on this site. We have been here for many years and if this is truly a school for Autism, we would like to co-exist with this school. We are none the wiser as to where we currently stand, but they tried to bulldoze us out, so at least the project is standing still for now,” said Bezuidenhout.
In response to a query from Berea Mail regarding plans for the property, eThekwini Municipality said the City had not received any applications for the property, and that it belonged to the Department of Education.
Again, attempts were made to get a response from the Department of Education, however no comment was received at time of going to print.
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