#AlexInquiry: Lesufi tables dept’s challenges during Alex shutdown

Gauteng education member of the executive committee (MEC) Panyaza Lesufi took the stand at the SA Human Rights Commission’s Alexandra inquiry to point out some of the challenges the education department faced during the recent Alexandra protests over service delivery.

Lesufi tabled how schooling in the embattled township was affected and how some of the protest chaos was as a result of no schooling. The department recorded eight days that were disrupted during the protests.

“If you can’t get education right, you can’t get Alexandra right, allow education to proceed,” he said.

Asked what some of the department’s challenges were, Lesufi said it was receiving pressure from parents – some of them undocumented foreigners – requesting that their children be taught in their own languages.

The department’s system was currently under constant pressure as the number of pupils was rapidly increasing, and the department could not issue some of the pupils with matric certificates, due to them not having proper documentation.

The department would soon broaden school feeder zones in the area due to the limited number of schools in Alexandra. “We want them [pupils] to have access to Sandton, Bramley and Marlboro Gardens.”

Lesufi’s testimony follows that of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Deputy Minister Obed Bapela, who told the commission that the inter-ministerial task team appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa to probe the Alex protests would engage in finding a turnaround strategy for economic opportunities in the area.

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