Dear Premier Panyaza Lesufi,
It has been impressive how you have started this year with your shameless antics of shifting blame and accountability.
Your disingenuous move to blame parents for their children not being placed in a school by the start of the academic year has deservedly earned you the title of ‘Mampara of the Week’ from the Sunday Times’ Hogarth.
Since the implementation of the Gauteng Department of Education’s (GDE) online application system, parents have been complaining about how long they wait for their child to be placed at a school.
When they are eventually placed, it is a school that they had not applied for, or the school is up to 90 km away from where they live.
Parents then must make a choice: Do I send my child to the school chosen for me by the department, which is not in my immediate area, or do I decline and wait for the new school year to begin, then go to the District Office to find a school closer to home?
It is for this very reason that we have been calling for an overhaul of the online application system. Online applications for Grades 1 and 8 must be opened earlier to avoid the delays we are seeing in the placement of learners.
Furthermore, the placement of learners becomes a problem due to the severe school infrastructure backlog. Currently, the school infrastructure repair backlog sits at approximately R31.1 billion. This backlog includes unsafe buildings, overcrowded classrooms, sanitation failures, and incomplete maintenance. Only 1.36% of this backlog is funded annually.
Premier Lesufi, at least seven infrastructure projects worth R900 million have stalled, with some dating back to 2021. The reason given for this is that there are issues with the contractors.
These unnecessary delays have resulted in the province having more than 700 schools facing classroom shortages, yet fewer than 30 new schools have been built in the province. Between 2014 and 2023, learner enrolment increased by more than 300 000.
The province is failing to plan properly every single academic year, and schools are unable to absorb all the new learners in the province. Parents cannot be blamed for your lack of planning, Premier.
In the Western Cape, they are fast-tracking school infrastructure through their Rapid School Build Programme. This programme is designed to deliver schools and classrooms within months using modular and alternative construction methods.
By the start of this academic the Western Cape has completed nine new schools and initiated additional phases on two more schools. 175 new classrooms have been added to schools, and the plan is for the province to deliver 29 new and replacement schools over the medium term, supported by strict project management, transparent reporting, and multi-year funding certainty.
For too long, we have been calling on the Gauteng provincial government to implement alternative mechanisms that will ensure that schools are able to accommodate learners in an environment that is conducive to learning and teaching. This has included repeated calls for the admission process to start earlier in the year and for it to stay open for much longer to provide parents ample time for their children to be placed at a school.
Premier, you must take accountability by fixing incompetent departments that are failing our children, particularly the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (GDID). This department should ensure that only contractors who have a reliable track record of delivering construction projects on time and within budget should be appointed. Furthermore, GDID should immediately do a skills audit in its department to determine if all officials have the skills needed to ensure that government projects start and end on time.
It is high time that the parents and learners of this province are provided with educational facilities that are conducive to learning and teaching. All learners starting Primary and High School should be able to do so without hassle at the start of the academic year, not weeks later, putting them at a disadvantage due to your government’s lack of planning.
Kind regards,
Solly Msimanga MPL
Official Leader of the Opposition- Gauteng