NONTOBEKO MTSHALI
SCHOOL governing body (SGB) elections have so far gone off without a hitch in Gauteng.
Of the province’s 2 149 public schools, more than 500 have held their elections.
The Gauteng Department of Education said the elections, which continue until the end of the month, were on track.
“We urge parents to participate in numbers. In some areas, attendance has been very good,” said the department’s spokesman, Charles Phahlane.
Of the schools that had had their elections, about 140 would have another round because they didn’t have a quorum. Those schools have until mid- April to complete the process.
Phahlane explained that after the initial attempt to have the election, schools that did not reached a quorum, and the district offices they fell under, were supposed to go back to the drawing board and rally parents, teachers and the community to take part in the voting.
Governors’ Alliance secretary Kathy Callaghan said schools not having a quorum did not always mean that the parents and the communities were apathetic or that the current SGB was dysfunctional.
This could be influenced by many things, such as the number of people who were able to attend the nomination meeting. One of these 140 schools is Lavela Secondary in Zola, Soweto.
The school was under the spotlight last month when Education MEC Barbara Creecy, accompanied by department officials and police officers, pulled aside about 30 pupils who arrived late.
Speaking at a media briefing soon afterwards, Creecy said not one parent or guardian had called the school after news about the latecomers was splashed in newspapers and news bulletins.
Bryanston High School is among those that didn’t have a quorum, and it was due to have a re-election today.
The school says it has done all it can to alert parents about the elections.
Sir Edmund Hillary, Orchards and Bachana Mokoena primary schools were also due to have their reruns today.
At Malvern High, the election, at the beginning of the month, went well, but staff are divided over one of the three teachers elected.
An SGB at a high school is supposed to have three teachers and nine parents, among other groupings.
One of the three teachers, referred to by a staffer as a “bitter loser”, is allegedly threatening to go to court and have the election results declared invalid.
“It’s impossible for anyone to challenge the results because the whole process was democratic and fair… all the systems were in place,” said one teacher.