Zuma opens R45m Mbizana school

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma officially opened a multimillion-rand school in Mbizana, in the Eastern Cape’s O R Tambo District Municipality, at the weekend.

The R45-million Ethridge Junior Secondary was built in Redoubt Village by Anglo American Platinum.

The school has state-of-the-art facilities, including 18 classrooms, a sports field, computer and science laboratories as well as a library.

It has a Lilliput sewage treatment plant which processes sewage and releases grey water for irrigation, as well as a borehole and chlorination plant providing pupils with potable water.

Speaking at the launch, Zuma said the school would build leaders of the future. He urged teachers to keep the school in the same condition it was in.

Amplats chief executive Chris Griffiths said the Alfred Nzo area was one of Amplats’ biggest labour-sending areas. “We believe education is essential for everyone and it’s an important building block for a successful economy which relies on skilled labour.

“We hope our contribution will facilitate the implementation of quality education which can only be achieved in partnership with the Department of Education.”

School principal Mphiwa Pepu said: “This new school is just what this community needed.”

LEARNING CURVE: President Jacob Zuma, Eastern Cape premier Noxolo Kiviet, Anglo American Platinum chief executive Chris Griffiths and other dignitaries, are taken on a tour of the science laboratory at Ethridge Junior Secondary by science teacher...