The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng welcomes the official opening of the Noordgesig Primary School brick and mortar structure.
The community has been waiting for nearly 10 years for the old asbestos school to be demolished and rebuilt with a brick and a mortar structure.
This school was supposed to be demolished and reconstructed in 2009, however the process was marred due to unnecessary delays by the Gauteng Department of Education.
Former Gauteng Education MEC, Barbara Creecy made many empty promises with budget commitments but failed to materialize.
The DA continued to put pressure to MEC Panyaza Lesufi since his appointment in 2014, the department has on several occasions made promises to replace this asbestos structure but nothing happened and only after enormous pressure from the DA did the process begin.
The DA conducted numerous oversight inspections to this school and met with angry parents who embarked on several protests outside the school demanding that the school be demolished and rebuilt.
The DA made a commitment to the parents and the community of Noordgesig that we would not rest until this school was properly rebuilt. The community was reassured that we would use all the mechanisms available in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) to put pressure on the MEC to act.
The DA tabled several written and oral questions to both former MEC Barbara Creecy and current MEC Lesufi in the GPL as well as delivering numerous Member Statements in the House as a way of exposing the state of this school. A motion on schools’ infrastructure was also tabled demanding that the department eradicate all asbestos schools in the province.
Asbestos schools pose a serious health risk to both learners and teachers. The department has failed to eradicate asbestos schools within the targeted time frame, the deadline of which was the end of November 2016.
This school is one example of how the official opposition has managed to put pressure on the ANC-led government to build a proper school and deliver services to our people.
We will continue to put pressure on MEC Lesufi to ensure that all asbestos schools and classrooms are demolished and rebuilt with brick and mortar structures.