Troubled Roodepoort Primary shut for a second time

and the guard house last week. They also broke windows.

Lesufi said there was a collapse of leadership at the primary school.

“There has not been one SMT (school management team) meeting. The SMT deals with how the school is run and curriculum matters. In that school you do not have a SMT, it is divided across racial lines.

“Black HODs who make part of the SMT attend meetings but coloured HODs do not attend the meetings. There is a collapse of leadership in that school.”

He said because there was no proper assessment checks, pupils were behind in the schoolwork. “If you check the books of children in that school the syllabus is where other children were around April or March. They are far behind.

“It is all children, not just black children.

“Community members have influenced learners and every time the principal wants the learners to go to class, they do not want to.

“They shout and scream at the principal to ‘pay back the money’,” Lesufi said.

He said armed security had been appointed to secure the school. “That school is a stop-go school. If the community feel they want to close the school, they close the school. When the community feel like they want to go into the school, whether they have permission or not, they go into the school.

“Actually, I have reliable information that they want to march to the police station to kick out black policemen there and say that they will be taking over their jobs,” he said.

Lesufi said teachers will also be held accountable. He has served 14 teachers with disciplinary letters. They had until yesterday to give reasons why they should stay at the school. He said he will use the winter school holidays to reconstitute the school.

“When I have reconstituted that school, then I will re-open it. During this school holidays I am reconstituting that school but I will never surrender to racism in any form or shape.

“In that school, non-racialism will prevail. They can delay it but it will happen.”

But a parent, who did not want to be named, said closing the school would not solve the issues.

“If this man does not acknowledge the issue, then it will never come right. The fact that he is the MEC does not mean he can do as he pleases. The core issue here is not racism – but that the standard of the school has gone down since this principal took over.”

She said that parents wanted a competent teacher, and race did not matter.

The parent, who has two children at the school, said high schools did not want to accept children from the school because of the low standards of education.

“When teachers are supposed to be in class, they stand outside and chat. Our children are not taught,” she said.