Parents shut down school

Parents shut down the Hlalelani Primary School at Waterval and accused the Department of Education of failing to fulfil their promise to renovate the school and build new classes.

The secretary of the school governing body,  Tshilidzi Mulaudzi, said that the Department of Education promised them in February this year that they would send a contractor within 14 working days to repair the school. "The school is dilapidated. It was built in 1985 and the floor is marred with potholes.”

Mulaudzi added that they had written to the provincial and national departments of education and Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha but that nobody responded. “Parents have been patiently waiting to see the contractor, but it is all in vain and that is by we have resorted to shutting down the school for a week,” Mulaudzi added.

Dr Naledzani Rasila said they had not promised to send a contractor within 14 days. “Hlalelani has been put on the list of storm-damaged schools for the current financial year that is going to end in March next year. The plan is to refurbish the administrative block and 16 toilets and to build a new nutrition centre as well as 20 classrooms. The school is also going to be provided with 340 furniture units at a budget of R14 million rand. Now the department is refurbishing a number of storm-damaged schools and also providing new schools,” he added.

He added that everything is done per an infrastructure plan, "which is partly controlled by the availability of resources. We request patience from our community," he said.   

News - Date: 28 July 2016

Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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