Dead priest helps school to a new life

EFFORTS by late Presbyterian minister Martin “Chunky” Young to have a historic school restored to its former glory have finally yielded positive results — seven months after his death.

He was passionate about restoring Pholela High School in Bulwer, KwaZulu-Natal, and fought to the end to have it returned to its former glory.

Young died in April this year, but even after his death he was listed as a plaintiff in a case brought by the church against the provincial education department for its failure to maintain the school. The department has since promised to repair the school.

The church previously owned Pholela High. In 2010 it reached an agreement with the department that the state would be responsible for the school’s upkeep. Since then the school, with boarding facilities, has become a shadow of its former self.

Pholela, which was founded in MUST DO BETTER: One of the Pholela High buildings that will have to be repaired 1934 and has 820 pupils, was a beacon of hope for black people during apartheid, producing prominent academics, government officials and professionals.

Former chief justice Sandile Ngcobo and Professor Daniel Ncayiyana, an obstetrician and gynaecologist who was editorin-chief of the South African Medical Journal, are alumni.

A recent inspection by municipal officials found extensive damage to the school and stray animals roaming the premises.

A tour of the school by the Sunday Times this week found cow dung on the veranda, holes in the floor, broken chairs and a leaking roof in the chapel where matrics wrote exams. There was no running water or flush toilets. Twenty bucket toilets were delivered two months ago, before which teachers and pupils were forced to use bushes.

Sociologist Professor Paulus Zulu, a former pupil, said he was shocked when he saw the condition of the school last year.

“It used to be a very beautiful school. You could have eaten food on the floor. I almost cried when I saw it,” he said.

Dr Keith Wimble was asked by Young to arrange a meeting between the church and the department to address the poor maintenance. He could not reconcile what he had seen with what he had known of Pholela High when it achieved a 100% matric pass rate 20 years ago.

“I was horrified. There was gross neglect,” he said.

In September, KwaZulu-Natal premier Willies Mchunu, also a former pupil, said R45-million had been set aside to repair the school. He promised to work with alumni to help the school “regain its glory”.