MEC Lesufi saddened by public schools opting not to help homeless people during lockdown
Lesufi slates public school SGBs for not wanting to assist the homeless during pandemic lockdown.
Gauteng’s acting MEC of Social Development, Panyaza Lesufi said he was saddened that Johannesburg schools did not want to accommodate the homeless during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The Coronavirus pandemic has forced the South African government to institute a nationwide lockdown in an attempt to reduce the rate of new infections. While for many staying at home was at worst an inconvenience, the same could not be said for the hundreds of thousands of homeless people across the country.
In a bid to assist this vulnerable group, the MEC said they would be improving support to the homeless by using existing school infrastructure.
However, it seems some schools have declined to assist, causing Lesufi to take to Twitter, saying, “It’s a shame that we’ve to place fellow South Africans in tents while public assets like boarding schools are standing empty because self-centred SGBs are refusing to open up schools to accommodate our people. Is it because homeless people are half human beings? #ShamelessSGBs”
He then attached a screenshot of a document from the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (FEDSAS) encouraging its schools to reject the government’s plan.
The excerpt read, ‘It is also important to note that all public schools are juristic persons. As such public schools exercise their rights through the school’s governing bodies, being the only organ through which the juristic person can act’.
It’s a shame that we’ve to place fellow South Africans in tents while public assets like boarding schools are standing empty because self centred SGBs are refusing to open up schools to accommodate our people. Is it because homeless people are half human beings?#ShamelessSGBs pic.twitter.com/z5VOaoIohs
— Panyaza Lesufi (@Lesufi) April 1, 2020
Schools such as Queens High School, King Edward VII Preparatory School, Jeppe High School for Boys and Parktown Boys’ High School were listed to house the homeless from Auckland Park, Booysens, Brixton, Hyde Park, Johannesburg CBD, Midrand, Randburg CBD, Roodepoort, Rosebank and Sandton.
Yesterday (April 1) Lesufi joined Tshwane’s head administrator Mpho Nawa on a visit to a Pretoria sports ground where 370 people were being provided with food, mattresses, blankets and toiletries.
