There’s a way, but will is needed

GROOTKRAAL UCC Primary School, a small but vibrant rural school in Oudtshoorn, faces an uncertain future. A public school on private land, owned by a trust seeking to redevelop the land for commercial purposes, it is threatened with closure and the relocation of its learners.

The case of Grootkraal, before the Western Cape High Court once more, is one of competing claims – a conflict between private interests and educational rights in which the lives of children are in the balance.

For more than 80 years, Grootkraal has been at the heart of a close-knit community of learners, teachers, parents and church-goers.

Once an impoverished farm school, it is now a source of immense pride for the community. It offers a computer laboratory and a vegetable garden which provides most of the learners with their only meal for the day. Grootkraal is also the community’s place of worship, accommodating a church.

During apartheid, farm owners were able to open and close statesubsidised schools on their property, at their discretion. They could also determine the size of the school, what was taught and who could attend. This racist legal framework left in its wake a legacy of tenure insecurity and grossly inadequate school infrastructure.

The South African Schools Act, passed in 1996, sought a tentative remedy to this. Section 14 of the act provides a mechanism whereby the private property owner, often a farmer, can voluntarily enter into an agreement with the MEC for Education to provide some security of tenure to a school.

In the case of Grootkraal, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) maintains that it cannot afford to pay the rent demanded by the landowner. The owners, the Kobot Besigheid Trust, plan to build a game farm and resort.

In response to the WCED’S decision to close Grootkraal and relocate its learners to Voorbedrag, a school 18km away, Grootkraal sought and was granted an emergency interdict in June. The order also instructed WCED to engage with Grootkraal and the trust to reach an agreement. However, a suitable agreement has not been reached and the trust has initiated eviction proceedings.

It has been suggested that the constitution and the law are a barrier to transformation, impeding substantive redress for historical injustices, land reform in particular.

Equal Education joined the proceedings as amicus curiae in order to bring to the court’s attention Section 58 of the Schools Act, which authorises the MEC to expropriate land, with reasonable compensation, “if it is in the public interest to do so… for any purpose relating to school education in a province”.

In this case, expropriation is in fact the only course of action in which all parties would have their constitutional rights protected. Without security of tenure, right to a basic education will remain under threat. It would appear that the MEC takes a different view.

The WCED characterised the closure of Grootkraal and its merger with Voorbedrag as a “relocation”.

In so doing, the WCED tried to circumvent the safeguards that apply when a public school on private land closes and/or merges with another.

The MEC must not only comply with these safeguards, hemust also consider all options including expropriation.what the case of Grootkraal makes clear is that the constitution and the South African Schools Act enable real reform. Where then is the political will?

Isaacs, Boulle and Brockman are with Equal Education. www.equaleducation.org.za