School governing body blocks off school gates

Dispute over poor state of school buildings

THE school governing body of Setlolamathe Primary School in Mogale City yesterday barricaded gates because of the poor state of the school's buildings.

The standoff at the school in Kagiso was stopped only after district officials came and addressed the parents.

The parents complained that the Gauteng education department had neglected the school, which was now in a state of dilapidation.

But spokesman for the department, Charles Phahlane, denies that they are neglecting the school.

Phahlane said there was a misunderstanding between the school and the district office.

"The school complained at head office about the state of the infrastructure. An inspector went to the school and confirmed that indeed repairs needed to be done.

"We informed the community last week that a contractor would start repairs in two weeks. But because of miscommunication, the school did not understand why someone had already started working. We are addressing communication issues with the schooling community," Phahlane said.

Phahlane said renovations at another West Rand school, Florida Park High School, were well on their way.

The Situkulwane Lesisha construction company was expected to make minor refurbishments to Florida Park High School in Florida, west of Johannesburg, to honour a R9.8-million tender that had been awarded by the department of infrastructure development last June.

Renovations were supposed to have been completed by February 15 but the school looks worse than it did before the company came in. One teacher suffered a nervous breakdown "because of the stress caused by the renovations".

The SGB estimates that R354,820 damages were incurred and items worth R527,107 stolen since renovations started.

Phahlane said the renovations were expected to end on April 15.

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