The new public primary school that is currently under construction has elicited different questions from various members of the public as to what is currently going on there.
In the article, Ward 97 school to be finished in 2015 [Roodepoort Northsider week-ending 15 May] the local Ward 97 councillor Jaco Engelbrecht explained that the construction of the school was halted following an environmental impact assessment.
The Gauteng Department of Education apologised for the delay and promised that the school will be completed before the end of 2015.
Engelbrecht is still concerned about the school as June is in full swing and the construction is still halted.
“I decided enough is enough and I wrote to the Department of Education seeking answers to my questions.”
He was surprised when Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi responded and gave some clarity about the situation.
To the first question regarding the current status of the school, Lesufi’s reply read as follows ‘The construction process of the school will commence as soon as all required documentation is approved by the municipality.’
He continued by saying, “The reason why the school’s construction has been delayed is we have to follow the process of proper zoning, environment impact assessment and we have to wait for the approval of building plans.”
According to Lesufi, about R 20 333 627.23 has been made available for the school and so far they have spent R 1 969 959.67.
Engelbrecht also touched on the land use change that had to be made to the property as it was an agricultural piece of land. Lesufi answered briefly by saying that an application was sent in to re-zone the property as an educational institution.
“One of my other concerns was that a water meter has been installed on the land already and I wanted to find out who authorised that,” said Engelbrecht.
Lesufi dodged the question be saying that water and water meters are not the Department of Education’s responsibility.
“I’m still in the dark about what’s going on at the school but I hope that the Municipality comes to a decision soon as the school needs to be completed before the end of 2015,” concluded Engelbrecht.
Related story: Ward 97 school to be finished in 2015
