The Mthatha high court has ordered Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane and education MEC Fundile Gade to remove pit toilets and fix classrooms and add sports facilities to at least five schools.
In his judgment on May 10, judge Richard Brooks ruled the failure to provide adequate toilets, classrooms and sports facilities was in breach of the constitution.
Angry parents from Dumrana Senior Secondary in Tabase near Mthatha, Zwelenqaba Senior Secondary, Gwebityala Senior Secondary, KwaNtshunqe Senior Secondary and Khotyana Senior Primary, all in Elliotdale, took the provincial government to court for failing to build proper schools for their children.
When a Daily Dispatch team visited Dumrana this week, it found more than 115 pupils crammed into a single class. Up to three pupils shared a desk meant for one, while others did not have desks at all.
Parents accused the provincial government of gambling with their children’s futures by not prioritising education in rural villages.
Dumrana parent and former SGB chair Putuma Mbalo said they had been trying to get the government to rebuild their school since 2017, after it was upgraded to a high school.
“We don’t have enough classes and now all the classrooms are overcrowded,” she said.
“There are more than 800 pupils and all we have are old prefabs and a block that was built by parents.
“The whole thing is now affecting teaching and learning, as teachers cannot move around the classrooms when teaching.
“We were told a modern school would be built from scratch, but that has not happened.”
In recent years, the department did build pit toilets.
Khotyana’s deputy SGB chair, parent Qundekane Nozi, said their school was a mud school, built as far back as 1926 by parents.
“Kusebugxwayibeni apha [it is a mess here]. The only thing the government built were long-drop toilets last year. We even had to fight hard for years for those.”
This week, Nozi said the mud classrooms were so dilapidated they were on the brink of collapsing, heightening fears for the safety of the children.
“People come and make promises, but our children continue to suffer. This government just does not care about us or them.
“Classroom walls are cracked and we fear the school could collapse at any time. It is just a huge risk sending our children here to learn.”
At Gwebityala, deputy SGB chair Mkheyi Gela also blasted the government for failing to build them a proper school.
He said the school structure consisted of prefabs provided by the government some years back. However, these were now dilapidated.
“I am worried that a child might fall into a hole in one of those dilapidated structures.
“A [Mthatha high court] judge came here with the government lawyers and our own lawyers and she was totally shocked at what she saw.
“What is painful is that they [Bhisho government] have been telling us for years that the school will be rebuilt and then they leave, and nothing happens.”
KwaNtshunqe SGB chair Thobile Mawayi, who attended the school as a pupil in the 1990s, said the asbestos roofing leaked when it rained. The school walls were also cracked.
The school is next to a busy gravel road.
“Children sometimes jump over the fence and we are scared we might find one has been killed by a speeding taxi.”
A contractor was reportedly sent to the school to fix the pit latrines, but Mawayi said the school also had young pupils who were unable to use them.
“The children of [government authorities] do not go to these schools, and that is why they just don’t care about the plight of ours.”
Zwelenqaba’s SGB chair, parent Nolast Mjantshi, said the school had more than 500 pupils.
When it rained, all classrooms were drenched. They had tried unsuccessfully to get shipping containers to augment the available classrooms.
The school had no sports fields though the government had built new pit toilets in 2023.
Brooks instructed Mabuyane, Gade and the education superintendent-general to convene a meeting with the schools’ SGBs and their legal representatives and supply them with development plans, surveyor maps, engineering plans and sketch plans for each school by no later than June 28.
The plans would cater for the construction of an administration block, nutrition centre, multipurpose classrooms, science laboratories, dining halls and playing fields at the five schools.
And within three months, they had to furnish the SGBs with reports of the work progress, and further reports on the advertisement and/or issuing of tenders and the proposed start of the construction of proper ablution facilities.
Provincial education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said they were aware of the judgment.
“We have a plan that we will file in court on how we will comply with the judgment.
“These schools require extensive work and we are in the process of appointing professional service providers to undertake the necessary work.”
Eastern Cape child rights activist Petros Majola of Khula Community Development Projects praised the parents for taking the government to court.
“Yes, the government has managed to build more than 100 new schools in the past five years but that does not mean we should close our eyes to the realities of what children have to go through in rural communities.
“This means the government has to pull up its socks.”
DispatchLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.