Advocate Modidima Mannya's comments on the situation at Qonce High School
26 Mar 2012
I have noted with trepidation and horror the situation at Qonce High School, the school on the outskirts of King William's Town, as reported in today's City Press, 25 March 2012 (see here).
I want to take this opportunity to also voice my own indignation and acknowledgement that infrastructural decay of that magnitude is completely unacceptable, and clearly calls for more urgency in government's stated intention of eradicating all mud and unsafe school structures.
In respect of Qonce, I have issued the following immediate instruction to my head of infrastructure:
- That the school's urgent needs are assessed immediately to determine the steps that can be taken immediately to remedy the situation
- Utilise that assessment to immediately provide the school with temporary structures as they cannot continue under those conditions
- Institute a province-wide assessment of all schools, beyond the known mud schools that are scheduled for eradication
- Enable a mechanism for communities to register the state of extreme dilapidation with the department
- Government remains committed to overcome all the infrastructure backlogs experienced by our province; the national department will be announcing 54 more schools to be built in addition to the 28 schools started this financial year as part of the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI) that has a budget of R6 billion for the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) three year cycle.
- In the department, in addition to the 600 classes delivered in September 2011, we are also currently building 200 additional classrooms throughout the province
Statement issued by Eastern Cape Superintendent-General Advocate Modidima Mannya, March 26 2012
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