The protest action that has reportedly disrupted schooling in Zebediela for about three months gave rise to in a high-level provincial government delegation engaging residents in the area during a community meeting at Moletlane Traditional Authority last Thursday in a quest to end the impasse.
The team consisted of Education MEC Polly Boshielo, Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure MEC, Monica Mochadi and Transport and Community Safety MEC Dickson Masemola. It was learnt that the exercise was aimed at ensuring restoration of law and order for the rights of the learners to be upheld. It was reported that the community, having demanded a tarred road for several months now, has during this time prevented children from attending school. After the meeting, Boshielo on her social media page posted a departmental message about schooling having to resume immediately while discussions about the tarred road demands continue.
“We are ready to resume with classes, utilise school holidays for catch-up programmes, offer extra lessons over the weekends and also provide psychologists and social workers to counsel learners to prepare them for normal schooling. The community agreed to take their children to school on condition that four people who are arrested are released. As the Department of Education, we can’t tamper with judicial processes and the rule of law,” she wrote.
Boshielo added that their concern was that the rights of the children were not respected and the department needed to explore all avenues to ensure that they are protected. Legal recourse to protect the children’s rights might be the only option left for the department, she reiterated and added that they would give the community until Tuesday to respond positively before the department explore other options.
Upon learning of the setback, the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo issued a statement saying that the party had engaged Boshielo to seek her urgent intervention in the matter. DA Provincial Leader and spokesperson on education Jacques Smalle said the community was given a run around by the provincial government upon which they decided to close all schools in the area until their demands were met. All services have been halted due to the violent nature of the protests, Smalle stressed and claimed that many learners are currently herding cattle, goats and sheep while their peers across the country are learning in schools.
Department of Education spokesperson Sam Makondo stated that, while the problem was not education related the department had nevertheless engaged with the community out of concern that teaching and learning was being disrupted long before the DA could even think of writing to the MEC. He further said no school was damaged but the protests in Atok and Zebediela have affected teaching and learning seriously.
“We urge communities to separate issues by allowing learners to go to school while other engagements continue on the side lines. It cannot be right that communities derive satisfaction when learners stay out of schools. They must know that it can lead to learners engaging in other social ills which has a potential of affecting their academic programmes,” Makondo urged.
Story: ENDY SENYATSI
>>endy@observer.co.za
