MKMVA pleads for schools not to continue to be reopened at this critical and dangerous phase in the Covid-19 pandemic
9 July 2020
The Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) is deeply concerned about the decision to continue with the phased reopening of schools by the Department of Basic Education.
One the 28th of April 2020, MKMVA issued the following statement: "We urge our government to resist the temptation to reopen schools and tertiary education facilities at this, still very unstable and precarious stage, in the battle to contain the spread of the coronavirus. These education facilities are by their very nature places where large numbers of young people gather. Class rooms are overcrowded... Under such conditions social distancing will not be possible, and to put a burden on teachers to enforce the impossible will be most unfair."
Since then the number of COVID-19 infections have steadily increased, and in the recent period we have experienced an alarming increase in the number of infections, as well as the number of South Africans who have tragically succumbed to the disease. Under these circumstances it is our sincere, and considered, conviction that is not wise at all to continue with the reopening of schools. We fear that schools and learners will become conduits for spreading the coronavirus - not only endangering the lives of learners but also placing parents, fellow siblings, and extended families as well as the broader community at risk.
MKMVA - our members also being parents/care givers and grandparents - are acutely aware of the precious schooling time that had been lost due to the lockdown. As much as every other parent in South Africa we do not want our children’s education to be compromised. We are also similarly aware of the frustrations of lively and active, energetic, young people who are unable to enjoy the freedoms that they are used to, and the challenges that this also pose to parents and care givers.
We do not for one moment doubt the sincerity of comrade Angie Motshekga, the Minister of Basic Education, and her team in their efforts to get schools reopened, and to try and salvage what can be saved of the 2020 academic year. However, as we are now approaching the peak period of infections, and almost everyone of us now know people who have been infected, and have lost family members, loved ones and friends, we plead in all sincerity with our government not to heighten the risk, and the awful consequences, of this terrible pandemic in ways that we cannot fully foresee, nor control.
As much as we are concerned about the education of our children, and their futures, we are far more concerned about them unnecessarily being put at risk, and their lives being endangered when schools are opened. It is deeply disturbing to see on television the mass burial sites that are being prepared.
As we have done in our earlier media statement we therefore again call on our government in the spirit of comradely persuasion - specifically the Department of Basic Education - to listen to the many concerns that have been raised, to reconsider the continuing process of reopening schools, and not to proceed with these plans at this stage.
MKMVA calls on parents and children to do everything within their means to make use of the opportunities that exist to proceed with online education. We are aware that to successfully benefit from online education opportunities demand discipline from both learners and their parents/care givers, as well as teachers. Online education certainly demands dedication and personal discipline from all concerned, but in these extraordinary challenging times extraordinary efforts are demanded from all of us.
For the sake of minimizing risk, and saving lives, our efforts to make online education succeed must be unparalleled. We call on government to make every further possible effort to ensure that the largest possible number of learners can utilize online education. In this regard it is important for government in conjunction with telecoms service providers to make data free, and widely, available to learners.
As the death toll of those who have succumbed to infections by the coronavirus raises alarmingly, MKMVA extends our heartfelt condolences to each and every South African who have lost family members, loved ones and friends. Our prayers and very best wishes also go out to South Africans who have been infected, and who are fighting the disease. We wish our fellow compatriots strength and pray that you will overcome, and will soon return to full health.
MKMVA wishes to once again express our heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to President Cyril Ramaphosa, and our government, for the Herculean effort that they are engaged in to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, and to save lives. We pledge our full and whole hearted support to make our contribution wherever, and in whatever way, that may be required and possible. Our country’s health workers who are in the frontline of fighting this terrible pandemic deserve our full support. We are hugely grateful for the immensely dangerous and hard work that they are doing.
MKMVA calls on every South African to fully comply with the current Stage 3 lockdown regulations. Ultimately it is our civil duty to protect ourselves, and our whole nation. Let us continue to stay as much as possible at home, maintain social distancing, and to save lives.
NKOSI SIKELEL’ iAFRIKA
Issued by Carl Niehaus, NEC Member of MKMVA and National Spokesperson, 9 July 2020
