Spat ‘can kill’ pupils

A spat between the Gauteng education department and a Pretoria school could be putting pupils’ lives at risk, according to the South African Teachers Union.

The union said it was approached by the principal of Laerskool Wonderboom-Suid after over a year of back and forth engagements between the two entities, regarding dilapidated school structures which were allegedly on the verge of collapse. The department had visited the school and acknowledged the seriousness of the situation.

According to the union’s operational director, Johan Kruger, the school building was in contravention of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. But it appears months of delays were compounded when the school disagreed with the quality of contractors assigned for the repairs.

Following several urgent letters to the department, said Kruger, a team of workers recently arrived at the school with a job card to conduct work. The school claimed the card did not focus on any of the serious infrastructure dangers the school had identified and reported.

“Surprisingly, the job card did have money allocated for roof maintenance, which had already been completed,” said Kruger. “The department had also contracted so-called electricians to do maintenance work.” But the electricians did not have the necessary papers to prove their qualification on site, it was alleged.

Department spokesperson Steve Mabona dismissed this claim.

In a written response, Mabona confirmed the school was not only aware of the situation, but was currently arranging for an alternative building to operate in as repairs were expected to begin soon. “The department is aware of the infrastructure challenges at the school. We have made short- and longterm interventions,” said Mabona.

“In the short term, the department has appointed contractors to deal with a pillar that was found to be moving due to expansive soils and another one to attend to electrical challenges.”

But Kruger issued a grim warning. “It seems that no lessons have been learned since the Hoërskool Driehoek tragedy” when a walkway collapsed, killing three pupils.