The government remains silent on ‘horror’ school issue

It has been more than a week after the shocking discovery of the sad state of Hoërskool Die Burger and the Gauteng department of education has not said a single word.

Many attempts to obtain comment from the department over the past week have failed. The department promised written comment, with nothing sent by the time of going to press.

Pastor Sydney Avenant, who occupied a building on the school grounds as a church, said he has tried to help at the school.

“We rented the classrooms – which were going to be demolished – for three years and turned them into a church,” he said.

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Avenant said that when the church moved into the building, they had to replace 265 broken windows. “Ceiling panels were missing and no electricity supply,” he said.

Avenant said the church rented the space for R1 500 a month and was responsible for the upkeep of the section.

“When we got involved at the school, things were already out of hand, pupils were having sex in the corridors and buying drugs in front of the teachers,” he said.

Avenant said there were even pupils from other schools who came to the school to disrupt the class time.

He said JP van der Merwe, whom Saturday Citizen reported was accused of living in the classrooms after the church left the premises, was related to him.

Avenant said Van der Merwe was employed by the school at some point to help with the security, but he wasn’t aware of the contract Van der Merwe had to stay on the premises.

“Since the start of lockdown, I haven’t returned to the premises. We told the school we couldn’t rent there any more because we’re not allowed to have gatherings,” he said.

“There have been problems to remove him from the premises since before lockdown.”

Avenant said that as a pastor and relative, he has done everything in his power to help Van der Merwe relocate but he was adamant to stay according to the so-called contract.

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A former pupil, who attended the school between 2017 and 2020, said the state of the school has deteriorated.

“All our subjects such as business studies, maths, tourism and life orientation weren’t available in Afrikaans,” she said.

The former pupil said there were also not enough classes available for the pupils at some stage.

“My worst experience was being failed twice because of their mistakes,” she said.

She was then forced to finish her matric in a private school at three times the cost. “Tests and assignments simply just went missing,” she said.

“I couldn’t wait to leave that school.”