Education department makes schools in Mpumalanga available for voting stations

The Mpumalanga Department of Education (DoE) recently issued a directive on making schools available for usage as voting stations as the country is busy with its national and provincial elections. Some schools had been identified and designated as voting stations. The DoE granted permission for these schools to be utilised for the purposes of fulfilling this national mandate.

According to the DoE’s spokesperson, Gerald Sambo, the district directors, circuit managers, principals of affected schools and school governing bodies were directed to make their schools available.

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“The schools were directed to make designated rooms available for this purpose, and have discussions with the IEC’s presiding officers and their co-ordinators on the utilisation of these school facilities. May 27 to 28 were the dates for the special votes, and some schools continued as normal with the IEC using the allocated spaces and rooms.”

He said May 29 was declared a national holiday for the purposes of voting, and the IEC was responsible for the school premises, but the designated teachers or principals were instructed to make the keys to the designated rooms and amenities available to the commission.

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“Counting may continue up to Friday May 31, and the allocated rooms must continue to be made available for use by the IEC. Where tuition is halted, schools are requested to develop a learning recovery plan post the elections period,” explained Sambo.
According to him, all the identified and designated schools were directed to make the elections a success.