Johannesburg - Orlando High School pupils who vandalised their school will have to clean up their own mess.
And until they do, no one will get taught at the school.
This was Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi’s message to parents on Sunday, after pupils went on the rampage on Thursday, damaging, looting and stealing school property, including furniture, laptops and computers.
Lesufi said the department would not spend “a cent” replacing any school property that was damaged, looted or stolen.
No company would be employed to clean the mess or to repair the damage.
“(Today) the children will have to clean the mess before learning continues. They messed it up, they must clean it up.
“This is the only way for them to see that this is wrong.
“There’s not a cent from my purse that will go towards repairing that mess,” Lesufi told the parents at an impromptu meeting at the school on Sunday.
The meeting had to be hastily convened after Lesufi visited the school on Friday to survey the damage for himself and find out why the children had run amok and damaged school property.
Lesufi’s statements come as the National Education Department is grappling with determining the costs of repairing more than 20 schools that were vandalised and burnt down in Vuwani, Limpopo, in the past three weeks.
The MEC’s tough stance came against the backdrop of violent protests at universities across the country that have led to the destruction of property.
Lesufi was in an uncompromising mood on Sunday, saying there was no way that Gauteng's Education Department would allow itself to be abused by pupils who vandalised schools and expected the government to fix the damage.
Lesufi has not sent any of his officials to the school to assess the damage, saying that would have served no purpose as the department was not going to pay towards the repairs.
The rioting at Orlando High School was apparently sparked by pupils’ unhappiness with the principal, Peter Nhlapo.
The school’s pupils' representative council president Khulekani Zwane accused Nhlapo of being disrespectful to the pupils, often swearing at them.
The school governing body (SGB) chair Siyabonga Zwane revealed at the meeting that the rioting actually started last Monday when some pupils burnt books and a classroom.
On Tuesday, they tried to burn another classroom but the fire was contained quickly.
They tried again on Wednesday, but were unsuccessful.
On Thursday, they changed the padlock and chain on the school gate and locked it.
They also kicked teachers out of their classes and some teachers and pupils who ran outside the school found themselves locked out.
It was then that the pupils broke windows and went to the administration block, and completely destroyed it.
Lesufi, meanwhile, has undertaken to remove the principal while the department finds a solution to the problems at the school.
“We will request the principal to take leave and allow the district officials to gather evidence and on that basis, we will be in a position to have someone in the interim lead the school.
“We already engaged the principal since Friday, and I’m expecting feedback on whether he accepts to take leave or not. I will come again tomorrow (Monday) to meet with the management and introduce the person who will lead the school in the interim.”
Lesufi was at pains to explain that removing the principal did not mean that he was being made a scapegoat of all that was wrong with the school.
He said it was not only him who was found to have contributed to the chaos at the school, but some teachers and pupils too.
There is a belief that the pupils who rioted must also have been influenced by some teachers at the school.
Lesufi said all those teachers would be identified and served with suspension letters today.
“If you are a teacher and you know you incited children to do this, we will act. We can’t allow lawlessness to prevail, we need to nip it in the bud,” the MEC said.
He pointed out that pupils would not suffer because the department had substitute teachers.
Pupils who led the riots and damaged the school, he added, would also be suspended.
The Star