Durban - Oakford Primary School pupils and teachers were locked out of their school near Verulam on the first day of the third term on Monday by the owner of the land on which the former church school is situated - because he wanted them to use another entrance.
The teachers and the pupils’ parents refused to use the proposed entrance, saying it added more than a kilometre to the children’s journey through sugar cane fields, which was dangerous.
“Does he want our kids to get raped?” asked one parent of land owner, Marius Maritz.
The frustrated parents eventually broke the padlock on the gate. But no teaching could take place in the chaos of the day.
Negotiations between Maritz’s representative, a Mr Owen, and education authorities apparently broke down when Maritz refused to back down. Owen had met the principal, Nomthandazo Xulu, the school governing body deputy chairman Zethembe Mngadi, education department representatives and ward councillor Nondumiso Ndlovu to try resolve the issue.
Maritz bought the land in 2009 from the Roman Catholic church which had been on the property for more than a century
In June last year, the Department of Education published a notice of intention to expropriate the land in the KZN Provincial Gazette.
“I was surprised when I saw school kids come home so early,” said Wilfred Ndlovu, a parent of a Grade 1 pupil. “All we want is for our kids to be in class, learning. Not sitting around doing nothing.”
Efforts to get comment from Maritz were unsuccessful.
KZN Education spokesman Sihle Mlotshwa said the department was disappointed that the pupils had been deprived of a day in class.
“We were surprised by this as our understanding was that we are in ongoing negotiations on the matter with Maritz and nothing was going to be done until the matter was concluded,” he said.
The Mercury