Klipspruit West needs a lasting solution

20 September 2017

The crisis at Klipspruit West Secondary School cannot go on for any longer as it undermines the learners’ right to education. Learning time and exams should not become collateral damage in the ongoing fracas.

The ANC’s reported disturbance at the school, which the SAPS was called in to quell, must be condemned in the harshest of terms.

I have written to the Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi, to seek an urgent update on what is being done to bring to an end the untenable situation at the School.

MEC Lesufi must stop hiding behind investigations; he must rise to the occasion to ensure that learners come first and are able to be taught in a safe environment.

Without a lasting solution, the future of the learners and the country is being sacrificed. It is high time that the various stakeholders, which include teachers, the school governing body and MEC Lesufi, sit down to find a solution that ensures that order is restored at the school and teaching and learning resumes.

During this time of chaos, it is also telling that the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) has said and done nothing, making it crystal clear that the union does not care about education nor does it care about the youth of Gauteng and South Africa. SADTU is only interested in being used as an ANC campaign vehicle.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will always work towards ensuring that the right to education is upheld and protected, and anyone who works to undermine this right is an enemy of the youth and the project of building a better South Africa.

Issued by Khume Ramulifho, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Education, 20 September 2017