Gauteng education dept ‘ignored plight of school built on swamp’

The Gauteng Education Department has still not acted, five years after it was told by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) to improve the precarious situation of a school in Winterveld, Tshwane that was built on a swamp with reeds growing on the school premises which are home to snakes, putting the lives of pupils and teachers at risk.

This emerged from the findings of a probe by a delegation led by NCOP chairperson for international relations Masefako Dikgale and Gauteng MPL Pinkie Mncube at Dr Sam Motsuenyane Comprehensive High School in Winterveld last week.

Eight delegations of NCOP members and Gauteng MPLs went to different areas of the province to gauge the impact of migration on service delivery to the people in affected areas in Tshwane, Joburg and Ekurhuleni metros and at the West Rand District Municipality.

The NCOP members were agitated to hear from the school principal and school management that the school, which was built by the former Bophuthatswana homeland administration, was still suffering since politicians last made an oversight visit in 2013.

Dikgale said the principal and management told them that the school is located on swampy ground and during rainy weather it becomes flooded, making the school inaccessible to both teachers and pupils. The school also complained about reeds that grew in the school yard because of the swampy ground. On many occasions snakes had been seen in the grassy yard which put the lives of everybody in danger.

READ MORE: Gauteng school placements for 2019 available early next month

“Delegates were not happy that most of the commitments made in 2013 by the government had not been honoured, and resolved to engage the MEC for Education in Gauteng to intervene and find a solution for the school,” Dikgale said.

The parliamentarian was also concerned about a large number of undocumented foreign pupils who struggle with their school work because of language barriers. The pupils are children of parents from neighbouring countries who are illegal immigrants. Their situation is worsened by their parents who refuse to attend parents’ meetings because they claim that the meetings are traps to catch them in order to deport them to their respective countries.

The delegates also found that Philadelfia Secondary School for pupils with disabilities had a shortage of braille text books, sign language teachers as well as assistants for pupils requiring special care. “The NCOP delegates made a commitment to contact relevant government ministers for intervention to ensure the smooth running of the school.”

Mabopane police station complained about difficulties in dealing with criminal cases involving foreign nationals due to language barriers and their non-permanent addresses. Many shops run by foreign nationals were being targeted by criminals, but some of the shop owners were selling goods that had expired as far back as 2011.

READ MORE: Lesufi slams Afrikaners who came to ‘hang’ him

The group of parliamentarians also visited Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, where they found dilapidated RDP houses. Dikgale said they were unimpressed by the quality of the houses built at Extension 19 and Thorn Tree housing project in Soshanguve.

“Amid some signs of poor workmanship such as cracks and incomplete houses, our delegation also heard of leaking water pipes as a result of poor plumbing. The delegation also heard allegations that some beneficiaries were illegally selling their houses.”

She said it hurt them as politicians to realise that many subcontractors in the housing projects had not been paid for three years. As a result, Dikgale called a meeting with the Gauteng department of human settlements, Faranani Property which is the main contractor, the subcontractors and beneficiaries to find a solution to all the problems in the area.

The MPs and MPLs expressed disappointment about the failure of Tshwane Metro councillors to attend a presentation on state service delivery in Tshwane City, organised by the NCOP prior to the oversight visit to the projects. Home affairs made a commendable presentation, while the politicians rejected reports from the departments of basic education, human settlements and health due to a lack of details in their presentations.

A separate delegation visited the West Rand District Municipality, led by NCOP programming whip Phel Parkies. They visited schools, hospitals, hostels, correctional centres and repatriation centres.

They were shocked to learn that Toekomsrus Secondary School was not only dilapidated in general but was also built with material containing asbestos, which poses a health hazard to pupils and staff.  The delegation ordered that the provincial education department must replace the asbestos with safe building materials.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.