Three brick classrooms have stood unfinished for nine months in a Peddie community.
The provincial education department’s construction implementing authority has terminated contracts with builders on a number of schools without telling the waiting communities why.
At Ngqowa Primary School in Peddie, which was nearing completion, the Daily Dispatch found three incomplete classrooms and was told the contractors had packed up and left the site in September last year.
The school is listed with those earmarked to receive infrastructure in a report submitted to national Education Minister Angie Motshekga.
The report was released recently following pressure from civil society groups for the state to release provincial implementation plans for norms and standards of school infrastructure.
The Peddie school appears in the report’s section which details projects as being “terminated”.
The Coega Development Corporation (CDC) was the implementing agent.
Others projects mentioned in the report are at planning phase, ongoing or under construction.
Eastern Cape provincial education spokesman Loyiso Pulumani could not be reached yesterday to comment directly on the situation at Ngqowa.
However, in comments last week related to King Sabata Dalindyebo Cicira Training College and Smuts Ndamase Senior Secondary School, also listed as “terminated” projects, Pulumani said: “The KSD Cicira was terminated due to the contractor's poor performance as well as poor workmanship.
“The matter is currently before the high court, with the contractor challenging the legality of the termination and lodging claims against the implementing agent.”
He said the Smuts Ndamase project had also been terminated due to poor performance by the contractor.
“All these terminations have been effected in keeping with the provisions of the JBCC contract entered into between the employer and the contractor.
“The employer in this particular instance would be the implementing agent, acting on an agency basis on behalf of the department of education, as agreed in the service level agreement.”
However, the community of Ngqowa in Peddie was not informed of the cause of the sudden halt of construction.
Ngqowa Primary, which caters for pupils from four surrounding villages and has grades R to 7, continues to have classes in their old single block of classrooms.
The school’s governing body could not be reached for comment.
Ayanda Vilakazi, CDC head of marketing and communications, asked for questions to be sent to him but a response had not been received at the time of writing. —msindisif@dispatch.co.za