Johannesburg - The Roodepoort Primary School debacle that began when parents questioned the appointment of a black principal and her two deputies is far from over.
On Monday, parents once again gathered in front of the school chanting that they were waiting for the Gauteng MEC of Education Panyaza Lesufi to address them about issues they had put to him regarding principal Nomathemba Molefe and her deputies.
Placards read: “Stay out of our schooling! Corruption + Discrimination” and “RDPT Primary underperforming since 2011! Poor Children”.
The parents said they wanted the process of employing the principal re-done as the school had gone “from good to bad” since 2011.
A man with three grandchildren at the school said many pupils did not know how to read or write. When parents voiced their concern, they were labelled racist.” How can we be racist when our school is 80 percent black?” he asked.
All hell broke loose at the school in February when the parents did not want Molefe back saying the proper procedures had not been followed when she was employed. They also questioned why the man, who had been the acting principal at the school for five years, was not given the job. They also accused Molefe of being corrupt. Since she took over, they said, the standards at the school had dropped.
As the situation continued to get out of control with the parents vowing there would be no school until Molefe was removed, Lesufi bowed to pressure. He temporarily removed Molefe from the school and replaced her with a coloured interim principal. He also promised to investigate all their claims and revert back to them about his finding.
However, when after hours of waiting in the cold on Monday they were informed that Lesufi only planned to see them on Tuesday, the crowd that was gathered there went berserk.
“Nee, nee, nee, ons soek hom nou (no, no, no, we want to see him now). He must not come and play games with us,” a woman in the crowd shouted angrily.
One of the community leaders Brandon Rousseau said most of the people had taken the day off work because when Lesufi had last met with them on March 24, he had promised to return to the school and give them feedback about their concerns.
Rosseau said if Lesufi was not at the school at 1pm, he should not come back and hope to speak to them, threatening to escalate the matter to the office of the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga.
“He is playing games. If he is not here by 1pm negotiations are off,” Rousseau warned.
A short while later the community made up its mind and organised kombis to transport them to Lesufi’s office.
The group of more than 50 forced their way into the Gauteng Department of Educations offices in the Joburg CBD and caused chaos in the lobby, chanting that they won’t leave until Lesufi showed his face.
After almost two hours police officers present managed to talk the crowd out of their planned sit in and persuaded them to leave.
Lesufi’s spokesperson Phumla Sekhonyane, who came out to address the media, said: “Over time we’ve been engaging the community around their concerns about Roodepoort Primary School and the last time we met with them there was a resolution that we’d investigate some of their complaints. The MEC said he’d put in place a forensic investigation into the matter and then said to them that he’d meet with them when the school’s reopen. Now, we didn’t necessarily say it’s going to be the 13th of April. The MEC’s diary says there’s a meeting with the community scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) at 2 o’clock. So tomorrow we’ll be at the school and table the report to them.”
As the protesters left some promised to shut the school down and many said Lesufi shouldn’t even bother coming.
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The Star