EFF rejects the premature and homicidal reopening of schools in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic

31 May 2020

The EFF reiterates it's call for the rejection of the reopening of schools without any sound scientific evidence of a decrease in COVID-19 infections and deaths in the country. We note the newly announced date of the 8th of June 2020 for a reopening of schools, after a senseless attempt at reopening schools on the 1st of June 2020. The last-minute postponement reveals a government that is not in touch with the realities of the Basic Education sector and general incompetence at the level of governance. Angie Motshekga and her department are fostering confusion and anxiety in the country and have shown they lack the capacity to lead such an important department.

There is nothing that suggests that the government will be in a better position to reopen schools on the 8th of June 2020 or that there will be a significant change in the rate of increasing infection.

Accordingly, we call on all parents, teachers, maintenance workers and Principals to resist the homicidal program of opening schools on the 8th of June 2020 that places the children of our nation at the doorstep of the deadly Corona Virus.

The President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education led by an incompetent Angie Motshekga, is at the forefront of a cowardly campaign to test the intensity of the Coronavirus by using children as guinea pigs.

As it stands, South Africa has recorded 30 967 positive cases of COVID-19 and 643 COVID-19 related deaths. The lie that children do not die from COVID-19 is a myth and an immoral experiment that will lead to the loss of innocent young lives. Already, four children between the ages 0-19 years have died from the virus in South Africa and across the globe the myth of the virus being one that affects the elderly alone has been dispelled by mass deaths across age groups. Thirty-two schools in the Western Cape have already recorded COVID-19 cases.

South African schools have displayed no infrastructure readiness to resume operation in a safe manner. Many do not have Personal Protective Equipment's, a majority of black township schools do not have toilets or running water and thousands of schools which have been vandalised during the lockdown are not in a state to resume learning.

The blood of young children, the custodians of our country's future will rest squarely on the shoulders of Cyril Ramaphosa. Every death, each young body that will die in isolated quarantine centres will be on the conscience of a government which prioritised profit and normality over the lives of educators and young people. We must not allow Ramaphosa to replicate the Marikana massacre in our schools.

The EFF applauds the Education Unions and Governing Bodies for the position they have taken that reopening of schools will be a grievous mistake as schools are not ready to accommodate learners and educators. The unions and governing bodies have confirmed that there has been no dispensation of PPE's to schools, that the revised curriculum has not been provided and teachers have not been trained with handling the teaching environment in light of COVID-19. We support their sentiments that schools must not be opened until these very basic standards to protect the lives of children and teacher are met.

The EFF will militantly call for Cyril Ramaphosa to step down as President of the Republic of South Africa when children, the families and communities are infected and die from the COVID-19 pandemic. We will legitimately and decisively call for Ramaphosa to step down because he is ignoring all scientific evidence and information to prematurely reopen schools, economic sectors and religious institutions even when there is no logical and scientific basis to do so. This time, MrRamaphosa will not go away with murder, as was the case with the Marikana massacre in 2012.

Issued by Vuyani Pambo, National Spokesperson, 31 May 2020