‘I am so done with that school,’ says banished Limpopo principal

A Limpopo school principal, who was chased away from school by an angry community after her school produced no matric passes last year, has been booked off work for stress and depression by a doctor.

The principal, Mary Baloyi of Ralerumo Secondary School in Taulome, Bolobedu, near Modjadjiskloof, is now resting at home.

Baloyi said her problems started a day after she was chased away from the school.  The community accused her of failing to produce passes in the 2020 matric exams.

“When I got home after I escaped death from the angry community, which was baying for my blood, I took a nap in my bed. But when I woke up hours later, I lost balance and fell on the ground.

“I immediately consulted my medical doctor who said I had stress and severe depression. The doctor then gave me some time off to nurse my deteriorating health.”

Among many issues, the Taulome community accused Baloyi of failing to obtain an examination centre number for matric exams to be written at the school.

Baloyi said: “It is just difficult to please this community. When I started there in 2014, there were no chairs, tables, photocopy machines, there was no water or enough teaching aids.

“I had to hop from one school to another and from one businessman to another asking for donations. I was not doing that for me or my family, but for the entire community.

“But instead of gratitude, they gave me attitude. Thanks for nothing. I am so done with that school. I will never go back to that school because they expected me to perform miracles.

“There is nothing I could do when the department said it needs more enrolment of pupils and teacher allocation for the school to have its own centre number. And there is nothing I could have done if the community refused to merge their school with the neighbouring ones.”

But Baloyi’s decision frustrated the community.

School governing body chair Rosina Mokwena said: “Her refusal to come back to the school means our children’s walk of more than 15km to other schools will continue to be their daily experience. This means more and more children will drop out, because of the distance, and more female pupils will be raped as they pass through forest and rivers to get to school.”

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