Sewage problem persists
WHILE Barkly West Primary School is officially open, despite pools of raw sewage on the premises, the stench continues to make teaching and learning at the institution unbearable following a long weekend where calls for the Dikgatlong Local Municipality to take action fell on deaf ears.
Last Thursday, hundreds of residents marched on the Dikgatlong Municipality offices, protesting against almost “non-existent” service delivery and calling for the immediate suspension of the chief financial officer (CFO) and that the municipal council be dissolved and an administrator appointed.
The flood of raw sewage at Barkly West Primary was among their concerns, amidst fears that this may result in the closing down of the school during the middle of exams.
In response, the municipality indicated that it would report back to the community by October 2.
While the spokesperson for the provincial Department of Education, Geoffrey van der Merwe, directed media enquiries regarding the specifics of the sewage spillage to the Dikgatlong Municipality, who could not be reached for comment, he did say that the school had not been officially closed.
“Neither the Department of Labour nor the Department of Education have shut down the school,” he said yesterday. “As the sewage problem has been a recurring one, Labour obviously continues to monitor the situation in regard to the municipality addressing this challenge.”
In a statement issued late yesterday afternoon, Van der Merwe said that the municipality was supposed to address the matter over the long weekend, after pupils were sent home early on Friday due to the stench.
While little appeared to have been done when the school reopened yesterday, he emphasised that Barkly West Primary was the only school affected and that the problem would not have any further impact on pupil evaluation for the third term.
“It should be stated that the quarterly school based assessments (SBA) have been completed and teachers are busy finalising the third quarter pupil report cards, to be given to parents on Friday.
“The department will continue to engage with the local municipality and monitor progress in that regard. Hopefully, the short school recess affords the municipality time to fix this challenge.”