Kuruman learners failed by all who should support them

03 November 2014

The DA notes but is unsurprised by the announcement by the Department of Basic Education that all 17 000 learners precluded from attending school for four months this year will have to repeat their grades. 

I will therefore implore Minister Motshekga to treat this matter with the seriousness it deserves and formulate a plan to be tabled before Parliament to mitigate the inevitable strain this will place on our already ailing education system. 

This step was likely in the circumstances. However, the responsibility for allowing the circumstances to arise must be admitted by every community member, and government official or politician involved.

Teachers and learners were intimidated by members of the local Road Forum to the extent that they could not safely attend school. Four teachers who tried to open their schools had sections of their premises torched.

The MEC for Education in the Northern Cape stated, at the beginning of the protest action, that her hands were tied, since the issue at the centre of the protest action was the tarring of roads, and was therefore, in her words "not education-related". The DA was very vocal at the time, urging the MEC to understand that anything that interferes with the schooling of children is education-related.

The Head of the Education Department stated, simply, that no funding was available to assist learners; the province was still recovering from the costs it had incurred moving Grade 12 learners to camps in 2012, when the same protests took place in that year. He said, further, that he had not foreseen the protests this year, and therefore had not budgeted for any remedial action. Any reasonable person following the matter would have expected a repeat of the 2012 scenario.

The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education visited the area in late September, and pleaded with all role-players to do whatever was possible to assist those children capable of passing their grades to be allowed to do so. Clearly, despite assurances, this plea fell on deaf ears.

Minister Motshekga visited the Road Forum, to try and understand their grievances. She was heckled, and not heard.

The law on this matter is clear:  It is a criminal offence to prevent children from going to school. I laid a charge in this regard on 11 August 2014. The South African Police Services (SAPS), to date, have taken no meaningful action. The response received to a question to the Minister of Police provides no level of confidence that any action will be taken.

The Northern Cape Education Department faces a difficult time next year, and for at least 12 years hence, with double the numbers in Grade R and Grade 1 in the schools in the John Taolo Gaetsewe District. 

This is incomparable, however, to the opportunities lost by the children of John Taolo Gaetsewe District.

The DA will not rest until those responsible are brought to book. 

Statement issued by Annette Lovemore MP, DA Shadow Minister of Basic Education, November 3 2014

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter