Only schools being overhauled through construction projects are being considered for the removal of asbestos because Bhisho does not have any money to address more than 1,000 others in the Eastern Cape.
That is the word from the provincial education department and the tragic reality facing thousands of schoolchildren in the province.
The situation has arisen out of the department’s gargantuan R73.1bn infrastructure backlog.
Department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said the backlog “may have been aggravated by budget cuts”.
He said the infrastructure budget had been cut “to prioritise for Covid-19 essentials” at schools.
DispatchLIVE reported at the weekend how thousands of asbestos-affected schools and homes remained in limbo in the province.
The substance can be lethal and cause severe lung-related illnesses.
In 2018, the Bhisho high court gave the department three years to replace mud, wood and asbestos structures in the province.
In the same year, the department conceded that it would not be able to meet its deadline to replace asbestos roofing at all schools due to its infrastructure backlog of more than R70.3bn.
In the wake of the 2018 ruling, the department indicated that R16.1bn was needed to attend to the 1,350 asbestos schools.
Ath’enkosi Sopitshi, the Eastern Cape head of education lobby group Equal Education, said asbestos fibres were so dangerous that it was “illegal for an employer to put any person at risk of exposure to them”.
“Yet disturbingly, our learners and teachers are at risk daily in schools made entirely and partially of asbestos.”
Sopitshi said the province had severe and dangerous backlogs “that the Eastern Cape department of education is far too slow in addressing”.
She said the exact number of schools made of inappropriate materials such as mud, zinc, wood and asbestos was unknown in the province.
“This is because of inconsistencies in the reporting by the department,” Sopitshi said.
“We agree with the department that none of these schools can be improved without the necessary funding, in the same breath poor management of financial resources and lack of due diligence by the department has had an impact on the delays we have seen,” Sopitshi said.
Teacher union Naptosa said the department was not taking the future of the children of the country seriously.
Naptosa Eastern Cape CEO Loyiso Mbinda said: “The current officials behave as if they are the last generation, hence they continue to put the current future citizens at risk despite the abolition of asbestos roofing 12 years ago by the department of environmental affairs.
“What type of government official doesn’t respect their own government decisions as well as World Health Organisation decisions?
“What type of department is highly disrespectful of court verdicts against themselves?
“This is highly disrespectful to the nation, its educators and learners,” Mbinda said.
Eastern Cape National School Governing Body association chair Monga Peter said the infrastructure backlog in the province was a “reputational challenge”.
“The poor state of infrastructure in the Eastern Cape, whether it relates to building or water and sanitation, is not a new thing.
“There’s a reputational challenge in Eastern Cape of not being timely in dealing with issues of service delivery to ensure effective public schooling,” Peter said.
“It’s absurd to always be exposed to responses of a failing political and administrative authority in the leadership of department of education in the Eastern Cape.”
The Public Servants Association (PSA), which represents thousands of educators and administrative staff at schools across the country, urged the department to prioritise schools with asbestos infrastructure, which is usually found in ceilings.
PSA provincial manager Thami Makuzeni said in the Eastern Cape it was “disappointing that the employer just acknowledges the lack and doesn’t put something tangible in place to make sure that proper ceilings are in place to minimise the health risk”.
“We urge the department to prioritise this matter and protect the precious lives of the workers and learners as guided by the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” Makuzeni said.
In 2008, then environment minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk banned asbestos roofing in SA.
According to the World Health Organisation, tiny asbestos fibres from damaged roofs can get lodged in the lining of lungs, where corrupt cells then cause the cancer mesothelioma.
DispatchLIVE
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