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Angry parents at Xhentse Senior Secondary in rural Libode have been fighting to get the provincial department of education to build a proper school for their children for the past 10 years.
Now they are planning to take the department to court for failing their children.
Located in Maqhingeni village, the school is regarded as one of the best performing schools in the area, having scored more than 80% in its matric results in the past two years.
It was started by the community in 1997 after each household contributed R30 to help build a block with four classrooms.
In 2016, however, the Dispatch reported that grade 10 pupils at the school had been forced to write their final exams seated outside, unprotected from the sweltering weather.
At the time, a video showing scores of pupils in their desks placed in rows in the open went viral on social networks.
On Wednesday, school governing body (SGB) secretary Nodumo Madolo said they had been promised a modern mortar and brick school shortly after the Dispatch published an article on the conditions at Xhentse in 2016.
But then, provincial education bosses sent them several prefab classrooms to be used as additional classrooms.
It was also reported 10 years ago that many of the 200 pupils shared three tiny classrooms, resulting in an overflow, particularly at exam time.
To compound matters, they also had to contend with noise from passersby.
The school is classified as a quintile one school.
“After they [education bosses) had promised to build a proper school for our children, we then went to Bhisho to check when it would be constructed,” Madolo said this week.
“Initially we were told the school was number seven on the priority list.
“Later we were told that our enrolment numbers were too low and the school was no longer on the list.
“However, in 2024 we were told Xhentse was back at number two on list but the project to build the school would be too big to start.”
After going to the provincial education department offices last year, they were informed the money allocated to build the school had been used to assist the victims of the June 10 floods which claimed 103 lives in the province.
“It has just been a lot of stories from the department and conflicting explanations,” Madolo said.
“This is the only high school in our area and caters for at least five schools, while serving the educational needs of about 13 villages under Nyandeni local municipality’s Ward 16.”
Before Xhentse, many high school pupils had to travel to other institutions like Smuts Ndamase SSS, Victor Poto and Chief Henry Bokleni Senior Secondary.
However, the journey involved having to use a footpath on the side of a mountain and the dangerous crossing of rivers, Madolo said.
“It seems they [authorities] do not care about our children. All they do is just make empty promises all the time.”
Meanwhile, Monde Sokutu confirmed they had engaged a lawyer who had filed court papers in the Bhisho High Court to get the department to accede to their wishes.
He said the prefabs sent by the department had just been dumped at the school, with no proper foundation to support them.
Now, when it rained, teachers and pupils often complained of being shocked by poorly-insulated electricity wires.
However, last month contractors were sent to address the problem and to fix damaged prefabs.
School principal Nozibele Ngele said some of the prefabs donated by education authorities had been heavily damaged during last year’s floods.
Doors had been blown away by a strong wind, while the zinc roof on the old classroom block had almost been taken off.
As a result, it swayed dangerously when a strong wind blew, she said.
The roofs in some of the classrooms also leaked heavily, while some toilets were damaged in 2025.
Provincial education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said the school was on the department’s priority list.
However, the department had never undertaken any official project to build Xhentse.
“At the time [2016], the school’s enrolment patterns, which hovered around 200, did not allow us to build it,” Mtima said.
“As a result, schools with high enrolment were given priority.
“The school was also not part of the Asidi programme which evolved in 2013 through which Chief Bokleni and many others benefitted.
“It, therefore, cannot be compared with those high enrolment schools like Bokleni.
“The school has, in the meantime, received alternative construction classrooms, water tanks and has been fenced while the department clears its heavy backlog with the aim of reaching hundreds of other schools like Xhentse, amid a diminishing budget regime and a poorly performing economy.”
He said a contractor had been appointed to address damage done to the school through natural disasters.
Xhentse was on the priority list, he confirmed.
Daily Dispatch
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