LIMPOPO – The resuming of classes comes after seven weeks of disruptions characterised by protest marches and as a result of an offer by a local business to rebuild the school, which was badly damaged by a vicious storm last year.

The good samaritan, Ibrahim Ismail of MHI Hardware Wholesalers in N’wamitwa, said he offered to help as education was important to the community and his business.

“I always read in the Capricorn Voice how people get help from business people, so I wanted to do likewise and help my community,” he explained.

“It also pleases me to see children learning and passing at the end of the year because they are the Mandelas of tomorrow.

“I have paid school fees, drilled boreholes, donated school uniforms and hardware materials to people in the communities I do business with without expecting anything in return.

“I do all this in the name of humanity. I think it is the duty of every business to plough back into the community,” Ismail said.

According to Ismail, he is prepared to offer help to the Department of Education where help is needed.

“I am ready to assist children go to school, learn and pass. I can drill boreholes for schools that do not have water.

“I can assist to buy school furniture if they don’t have enough, but it has to be approved by the school management, the school governing body and the department,” he said.

The Mark Shope Secondary School’s two blocks constitute eight classrooms for Gr 11 and Gr 12, which were destroyed by a storm during exams late last year when corrugated iron sheets that was part of the roof fell on seven learners as a lesson was in progress.

Learner Representative Council President, Watch Malubana, said: “we are back in class and together with our teachers have agreed to work hard to catch up with the time lost in January. We have since commenced with extra morning and afternoon classes. We have also asked other teachers to help with weekend classes so the culture of learning and teaching can go back to its national agenda”.

The Spokesperson for the department, Naledzani Rasila, welcomed the donation by MHI Hardware Wholesalers.

He said it was a pleasure to see the business community give a helping hand to the community in which they do business.

Rasila added that money to the tune of R67 million had been set aside to repair storm-damaged schools, while R800 million had been set aside for school infrastructure.

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