PE school continues to be dismantled brick by brick

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

An unused Port Elizabeth High School has been dismantled piece by piece by a local community.

The Gqebera High School in Govan Mbeki township just off the Uitenhage Road was reportedly built prior to 1994, but due to dwindling numbers the school was eventually closed.

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.

The source told us that the replacement value is anywhere between R30 million and R40 million.

Police arrested three people for being in possession of suspected stolen property, but the source said getting a conviction is quite tricky.

In a detailed letter to The Herald on September 20, Afrika Mhlope wrote: "When I inquired if any building material was for sale I met an enterprising group of young men who gave me a price for the building blocks, roof tiles and pavers they had already assembled in a pile: R3 for each building block, R3 for a roof tile and R1 for a paver. As I am in a middle of a building project I immediately saw an opportunity to save a lot of money by buying building material from these men and they assured me that they had the blessing of the Department of Education to do what they were doing.

I saw other groups also working in different parts of the school busy with salvaging whatever they could get. I had many people running after me offering this or the other from what has been pilfered from the school."