School still exposed to deadly disease
Parents, guardians and senior DA officials want to know why learners of a local school are still exposed to deadly asbestos.
At least 1 500 learners at Randfontein Secondary School, which was built in the 1970s, and is the only high school serving the area, are still at risk of developing asbestosis, the dangerous asbestos-related disease.
On Thursday morning, 25 January, DA Gauteng Shadow Member of the Executive Committee for Education, Khume Ramulifho, led a protest outside the school against asbestos exposure. Concerned members of the community, DA activists as well as other senior officials such as John Moodey, the Provincial Leader for the DA in Gauteng, joined the protest.
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Jacques Julius, DA member of Parliament, described the disease as a ‘silent killer’, saying that if asbestos fibres are inhaled, they will cause asbestosis, which is a lung disease.
“Instead of demolishing the asbestos school building three years ago, the Gauteng Department of Education (and by extension the Department of Infrastructure Development) simply built a brick wall around it.
The asbestos material is still exposed on the inside of classes with some panels even broken, openly exposing learners to this hazardous material. Asbestos as building material was banned in 2008. They (government) are aware of this situation and I have debated the issue extensively.”
He added that the GDE had missed the 29 November 2016 deadline for eradicating all asbestos-containing schools.
Ramulifho added, “The environment is not conducive to learning. Besides the danger asbestos poses, the classroom structure could collapse over time. It is also a waste of money. They (government) should’ve demolished, and rebuilt (the whole school). From the outside, it appears to be a brick and mortar structure, however there is bare asbestos inside the classrooms.”
André September, whose grandchild is in Grade 11 at the school, asked, “How much did the project cost and which GDE employee conducted the completion inspection and signed off on the work if it still poses a danger to our kids? We want answers!”
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Moodey added, “The laying of bricks solved absolutely nothing and was a cheap and quick fix. If children go to their classrooms they are still exposed to asbestos, which is why we came out here today – to raise the issue of the danger the school poses to all once again.”
According to Julius, Toekomsrus Primary School is also an asbestos school and one of the schools allegedly priotirised by the department, yet no work has commenced.
Ramulifho is to hand over a memorandum demanding that the Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi, visit the school within the next seven days to inspect and assess the situation.
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