AfriForum gets Nkandla a new school

● Inkosi Zakhe Mpungose was so desperate to get help to build a school to uplift his impoverished Nkungumathe village in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, that he turned to AfriForum, the conservative civic body representing Afrikaner interests.

And this week his almost decade-long battle and unlikely alliance paid off when the Pietermaritzburg high court ruled that the provincial education department should make good on its 2010 promise to establish a high school in the area.

The reason for Mpungose’s determination to build his village its own high school is that he strongly believes that a village that does not prioritise the education of its children is a dead one.

Children in this rural village, nestled on the plains along Mhlathuze River and facing lush-green hills, must walk 5km to the nearest high school, Ithuba High School, after completing primary education at Nkungumathe Primary School.

But the community was tired of this and applied to the department to build them their own high school in 1996 and again in 2002. Finally in May 2010, the provincial education MEC decided to register and build a high school.

But nothing materialised and in February 2017 the decision to register and establish the school was withdrawn by new education MEC Mthandeni Dlungwana without notice or consultation with the Mpungose traditional council. It was during that time that the frustrated community, which had even resorted to former public protector Thuli Madonsela for help, turned to AfriForum.

In a hard-hitting judgment this week, Pietermaritzburg high court judge Trevor Gorven set aside the decision by the education MEC on February 16 2017 to withdraw the earlier decision to establish and construct Khuba Secondary School.

He also ordered that the decision made in 2010 to establish the school be implemented and that the department provide the necessary budget, infrastructure, equipment, teaching and learning materials and personnel to build the school.

Mpungose told the Sunday Times: “We asked AfriForum to assist because we felt our rights were being abused. We did not go to court because we were fighting with our government but because we wanted to know the truth.”

AfriForum deputy CEO Alana Bailey said the case “proved that there was always hope and was an important lesson for any other community facing a similar problem”.

In an earlier statement, AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel, who enjoys a good relationship with Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, said it was a “disgrace” that the state could spend millions on Zuma’s Nkandla residence but allowed children in the same district to suffer because they had no access to a school.

KwaZulu-Natal education MEC Kwazi Mshengu said the judgment was in line with their quest to provide sufficient schooling facilities throughout the province.