A formal township of that size and that many RDP houses (I speak from experience) would have no difficulty finding enough secondary age children to attend the school. However, the school population had dropped from 1,000 to 350 during a process in which vandalism caused parents and some teachers to move their children elsewhere. The many candidates from nearby informal settlements were not taken into the school by the Education department. The pupil/teacher ratio inaugurated a "redeployment" of staff:
THE Eastern Cape Department of Education’s announcement that extra teachers at schools must move or face the music has angered pupils. On Friday, pupils of Gqebera High School at Govan Mbeki, Port Elizabeth, held three education officials hostage as they were serving 13 teachers out of 20 with letters of redeployment. Cops were called to rescue the officials. After negotiations with pupils, the officials were released.
Pupils blocked the gates and chanted: “Our teachers are going nowhere. Taking them will kill our bright future.” Lonwabo Quntu (22), chairman of the school representative council, told Daily Sun: “Our school is battling because the department doesn’t give it the necessary support. There’s no electricity and laboratories because of vandalism. These dedicated teachers are our only source of hope. Instead of helping us, the department is taking our teachers away. We won’t go back to the classes until the department leaves our teachers alone.”
Nokuphumla Sikawuti of the school governing body said, “We are against the redeployment of teachers at this school. The school has been vandalised but these teachers are working hard.”
Eastern Cape MEC for Education Mandla Makupula said: “Excess teachers are urged to use this opportunity to approach their district offices and voluntarily identify schools with vacancies that match their skills. The department is currently considering various options. They include possible withdrawal of salaries for teachers who continue to ignore the directive on movement of teachers.”
A source told Algoa FM News that when the school, which became the responsibility of the Department of Education after it was built by Public Works, was no longer being used for its "core function, it had to be returned to the Department of Public Works. (The source says this is is the same with other government-owned buildings)
This did not happen with Gqebera High School because the Department of Education apparently had plans to use it to accommodate learners from several nearby informal settlements where schools are over-crowded.
Which is all a bit of a disappointment for Vodacom (note the date):
Vodacom donates computer centre to Gqebera school
Friday 14 June 2013 | 10:27 CET | News
South Africa's Vodacom Millionaires donated a fully equipped computer centre with internet access to learners from the Gqebera Secondary School in a bid to improve the standard of education in the Eastern Cape region. Vodacom Millionaires is a TV game show sponsored by the mobile operator that gives away four computer centres to schools across the country every month. As part of this donation the school received 20 learner laptops, one educator laptop, and an interactive white board, projector, a server, printer, cartridges and 700 MB of data monthly. All the donated equipment is maintained for two years. All teachers receive training and will continue to receive support via a dedicated call centre.
As to the SAPS:
EASTERN Cape’s troubled education department has been hit by another problem – looting.
Today 12 people are in jail for allegedly stealing roof tiles, paving, electric cables, windows, bricks, rafters, water taps, the fence, chairs and desks.Passing motorists complained to cops that Gqebera High School in Port Elizabeth’s Govan Mbeki kasi was being broken down and stripped. When the school was closed after June exams as a result of low pupil numbers, some residents started stealing things.
On Wednesday the residents were screaming at KwaDwesi cops who came to arrest them. “Empty buildings like these pose a danger to society. They are hideouts for criminals,” said the residents. But cops arrested them, raided their homes and seized the stolen goods. The 12 suspects will face justice in court soon, but only if officials lay charges.
Station commander Lieutenant-Colonel Gerard Saayman said: “On Wednesday we arrested nine people for possession of stolen property.This follows three arrests we made last Saturday. We arrested the suspects and confiscated roof trusses, beams, fencing, paving and bricks. The suspects were physically breaking down the building. We also confiscated a truck and two bakkies used to transport stolen goods.”
But he said the Education and Public Works departments don’t want to come forward and lay charges of vandalism of their buildings.
“Until they come forward and lay charges, the suspects can’t be prosecuted.” The school was built in 1995 and was in good condition when it was closed. “It’s sad when the community destroys its own school,” said Saayman. “We confiscated a lot of school property in nearby houses. But I don’t have enough manpower to guard the school.”
Suspected looters said: “Our RDPs are too small. We strip the school to extend our houses.”
Loyiso Phulumani, spokesman for the Department of Education in the province, said the school was handed over to the public works department which then became responsible for it.
RDP = Rural Development Programme. South Africa is the only country in the world to guarantee a house free of charge to every citizen (below a certain income level). The first low cost housing projects were generally a two room brick work structure with corrugated iron roof sheeting. Over the years the design of the house improved a lot. It now consist of a five room brickwork structure with either corrugated iron roof sheeting or clay roof tiles. Lights and electricity are supplied and a geyser for hot water is an option. Travelling across the county, one now sees thousands of these houses with solar heated geysers up on the roof - that was not the rule 6 years ago. A big problem of RDP is that a person given a house often rents it out, returns to the tin shack in the informal settlement and aids grandma (still in the shack) to get another RDP which in turn is then rented out. Sometimes they are even sold - which is illegal.
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
