Ennerdale riot blocks roads, shuts schools
School’s condition sparks the anger
The school governing body at the troubled Oakdale Secondary School faces disbandment following violent protests that took place in Ennerdale yesterday, in which a classroom was torched. Teaching was halted at Fred-Norman and Oakdale secondary schools as parents and angry residents took to the streets to voice their concerns, accusing the Gauteng department of education of failing to listen to them. The community said the department ignored their pleas to have the infrastructure fixed at Oakdale Secondary School in Johannesburg south. Four classrooms don’t have roofing after it was blown away by a storm in November. Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said: “The department will send a correspondence to the SGB [school governing body] members which seeks to find reasons why they should not be disbanded.
“We are disappointed by the act of shutting down the school and the burning of a mobile classroom by community members.”
Lesufi condemned the act of shutting down the schools because pupils end up missing on learning and teaching. “The department is currently finalising the process of appointing a service provider to address the general building work related to the storm damage,” Lesufi said. Police used rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the crowd that was gathered along James Street since 3am.
Pupils affected by the shutdown have pleaded with the department to listen to their cries as they were being left behind in their studies. A 16-year-old grade 11 pupil said their school was a mess. “They gave us mobile classrooms that are not conducive for learning. We have gangsters walking in and out of our school as they please because we don’t have security,” she said. Another one said they don’t have enough textbooks as they constantly got stolen.
“We are pleading with the department to build us a proper school so that we can be able to learn like other pupils,” she said. A 16-year-old grade 10 pupil at Fred-Norman Secondary School said they did not know about the strike. “I thought it was a normal day; even when I saw the police I didn’t think much of it. After our first break we were chased out of our classes by some community members who said we needed to support Oakdale secondary,” she said. SGB member Wendy Mntambo said they were not fighting with anyone but wanted a proper school. Police spokesperson Capt Kay Makhubele said five people were arrested for public violence.
The councillor for ward 7 was among those people arrested.
“We have also opened a case of malicious damage to property,” Makhubele said.