Education minister told to fix gaps in law, meet targets
Judge rules in lobby’s favour
Some regulations in the norms and standards for school infrastructure that the government promulgated five years ago are unconstitutional, invalid and need to be amended.
The Bhisho High Court in Eastern Cape yesterday ruled in favour of Equal Education’s (EE) application to force Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga to fix the “loopholes” in the legislated minimum norms and standards and to meet school infrastructure deadlines.
Motshekga was ordered to amend the regulations and pay the applicant’s costs.
EE head of communications Leanne Jansen said: “This momentous victory has strengthened the ability of learners, teachers, parents, communities and civil society organisations to hold the state to its duty of protecting learners’ right to dignity, equality and education. Armed with an improved infrastructure law, EE will continue to keep a very close eye on the DBE [Department of Basic Education] and on the provincial education departments. We will not back down from the fight for quality school infrastructure.”
Reacting to the judgment, department spokesman, Elijah Mhlanga, admitted to Sowetan’s sister publication, the Dispatch, that mistakes were made in the law and they were busy fixing them.
On November 29 2013, Motshekga published legally binding norms and standards for school infrastructure.
It became law that every school had to have water, electricity, working toilets, safe classrooms with a maximum of 40 pupils, security, and thereafter libraries, laboratories and sports facilities.
The first deadline for the norms and standards was November 2016 – three years after the law was published.
However, the government failed to deliver.
In 2016, the education lobby group filed court papers to compel Motshekga to meet the targets the government had set to fix schools by fixing some of the loopholes in the school infrastructure law. Some of the loopholes identified included an escape clause that states the DBE was responsible only for fixing schools to an extent that other parts of the state, such as Eskom or the Department of Public Works, cooperate and make resources available.
EE argued that the escape clause was government’s “getout-of-jail-free card”.
In her defence submitted to the court, the minister said it was common cause that the implementation was subject to the resources and cooperation of other state entities responsible for infrastructure.
Yesterday, acting Judge Nomawabo Msizi’s judgment ruled entirely in favour of EE.