The Eastern Cape education department says it will investigate the alleged mismanagement of a building project at a school in Alice, which resulted in pupils blocking a road in protest earlier this week.
Department head Themba Kojana told News24 that while the concerns of the contractor are receiving urgent attention, he had asked departmental officials to investigate the matter so that those responsible for mismanaging the project are held accountable.
Department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said new classrooms had been built for the Mdeni Senior Secondary School, but that they could not be used because the contractor had not been paid and had not handed over the keys.
Kojana said it was regrettable that the situation had to reach that point.
A government statement said that Kojana had conducted a site visit to the school after the protest to engage the school’s principal, parents, the School Governing Body (SGB), teachers and learners to listen to their concerns and find immediate, medium and long term solutions.
“After intense discussions, an agreement was made between the department and the contractor, who then unlocked the padlock for schooling to resume,” the GCIS statement said.
“In turn, Kojana has committed to resolving all the administrative concerns that were raised by the contractor in the medium term.”
Government said that the Eastern Cape has been identified as a priority province to improve the quality of education, from infrastructure to improving learner outcomes.
“The programme of eradicating mud and plankie schools is progressing well, but more still need to be done.”
In his State of the Province Address, Eastern Cape Premier Phumulo Masualle said the provision of quality education is central to the task of building a province that is characterized by a high standard of living of its citizens.
“It was with this understanding in mind that at the beginning of this term, we undertook to create better access to quality education as one of our apex priorities,” Masualle said.
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