Note to Editors: Please find a soundbite by DA MPL Sergio Isa Dos Santos here.
Teaching and learning at Dulcie September School in Rabie Ridge, Johannesburg, have come to a halt amid unsafe and undignified conditions. For the past two weeks, parents have kept their children at home, stating that they will not allow them to return to school until the infrastructure crisis is addressed.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on Gauteng MEC for Infrastructure Development, Jacob Mamabolo, and the Gauteng Department of Education MEC, Lebogang Maile, to urgently intervene and ensure that structural engineers, occupational health and safety and electricity inspectors are deployed to assess infrastructure at the school.
DA made this shocking discovery during its oversight inspection yesterday. Eight ablution facilities have been closed due to their shocking state, leaving approximately 2,500 learners reliant on 20 portable toilets. Parents report that many learners, particularly girls, have developed infections after using these facilities. Teachers are no better off. Their facilities lack taps, toilet seats and functioning doors.
Furthermore, eleven mobile classrooms are out of use due to structural defects, worsening overcrowding in classrooms already plagued by broken windows, leaking roofs, and exposed wiring that pose serious safety risks.
See photos here, here, here and here.
Parents further allege that the condition deteriorated after mobile classrooms were relocated to an adjoining site in June 2025, where contractors’ poor workmanship left infrastructure in a hazardous state. Despite promises by the Gauteng Department of Education, there has been no meaningful intervention to date.
This is yet another example of the Premier Panyaza Lesufi-led government’s failure to ensure safe and dignified learning environments. It is not only tragic that learners have lost valuable schooling time they may never recover, but also deeply concerning that the government has yet to step in and resolve the issue.
The DA is the only party that has a plan to end the school infrastructure crisis in Gauteng for the benefit of all learners. We would take a tougher approach to school safety and infrastructure, hold contractors accountable through penalties and bans.
Furthermore, we would introduce independent inspections and prioritise building new schools and properly maintaining existing schools to ensure they all meet basic health and safety standards.
Learners and teachers cannot be expected to function in conditions that endanger their health, strip them of dignity, and put their lives at risk.