“We are tired of the big stink.”

This was the message sent by pupils, staff and parents at Malalmulele High on Wednesday, as they marched to the Department of Education’s offices, demanding the relocation of their school. They say their school stinks, because hawkers urinate on the school premises.

They also say the government must fulfil its promises. In September 2011, the Limpopo Department of Education raised the hopes of pupils, teachers and parents of Malamulele High School with the promises of building a state-of-the-art school, which would cost between R20-million and R40-million. Four years later, this has not happened and everyone attached to the school is furious.

As result, there were no classes on Thursday as teachers, pupils and parents embarked on a march to the Department of Education’s offices to present a memorandum demanding the building of the new school. They also presented a memorandum to the Malamulele Police Station, demanding that the police arrest the thieves who regularly break in at the school to steal the school’s property, such as computers.

The chairman of the school governing body, Mr  Harry Hlungwani, said that since 2005 there had been requests to the government to move the school elsewhere, but despite promises made, nothing had happened. “The school is unkempt and dilapidated and not in a condition conducive for education,” said Hlungwani.

He said the school was next to a complex and the noise from the complex hampered learning. “Hawkers have broken the fence and relieve themselves in the school yard. This exposes our kids to diseases such as typhoid,” said Hlungwani. He said that, because of the conditions at the school, some parents had opted to send their children to other schools and enrolment had gone down to 800. It used to have an enrolment of more than 2 000.

At the same time, however, against the odds, the school has continued to do well and it has never been dysfunctional.  

In 2011, former MEC Namane Masemola made the announcement in a meeting with the SGB, circuit manager Shadrack Maluleke and parents. “The planning team will start soon and we will come for the sod-turning ceremony,” he said during the meeting.

The spokesperson for the Department of Education, Mr Jack Mokobi, confirmed receiving the memorandum. He said the government would respond to the memorandum at an appropriate time.

Receiving the memorandum, Lt-Col Thifhelimbilu Makungo, the detective commander at Malamulele, said they would take it to the relevant authorities. "We are just happy that many of you are committed to fighting crime and we are now assuring you that your memorandum will get the neccessary attention," she said.