If an official is attacked we will withdraw our services, Lesufi warns Gauteng parents

MEC of Education in Gauteng Panyaza Lesufi has warned frustrated parents that should a district official be attacked during online placement, the service will be withdrawn.

“Assaulting our officials who are trying to assist, with placements can’t be tolerated. We’ve persuaded union members not to pull out their members from our district offices however if a single official is attacked we will withdraw the service,” he tweeted on Sunday.

This comes after district officials allegedly faced intimidation from parents that had stood in line for hours to place their children only to find that the system is offline.

The service was made available to parents to deal with the backlog in the placement of children.

According to TimesLive the placement period for admissions of children in grades 1 and 8 at state schools in the province was scheduled to close on October 31, but a day before the deadline there were about 77,000 parents who had neither declined nor accepted placement offers for their children.

Lesufi further alerted parents to the fact that “most of [Gauteng’s] good public schools” were full, but alternatives would be found to ensure that all learners are placed.

A parent took to social media to plead with the MEC to intervene as parents had been in the queue for placements for up to three hours.

“After queuing for 3hrs ,le system is offline.What for next my Daughter?We need assistance MEC (sic),” the frustrated parent asked.

Gauteng Department of Education spokesperson Steve Mabona has been approached for comment. This will be added once received.

It was not clear at this stage whether the issues surrounding the offline system have been resolved.

More to follow.

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