Jason Felix and Siyavuya Mzantsi
MORE than 6 000 pupils in Grabouw left their classrooms as growing service delivery protests led to the closing of five schools yesterday.
Some Grade 12s had to abandon their matric “mock” exams, and a number of primary school pupils their Annual National Assessment exams.
The schools that were closed were Kathleen Murray Primary, Pineview Primary, Groenberg High School, Umyezo Wama Apile High School and Umyezo Wama Apile Primary School.
Other schools in the community were also affected because pupils were unable to travel to school.
The N2 was closed for most of yesterday.
Roads in Grabouw informal settlements – Zanele and Elcof – were also closed off with barricades and tree stumps.
For the second consecutive day, more than 1 000 protesters took to the streets demanding houses and better roads.
They threw stones at police, who retaliated with rubber bullets.
Thirteen people were arrested and are to appear in the Caledon Magistrate’s Court today.
A high school principal who asked not to be identified said that because of the protest, only 50 percent of the pupils had turned up.
“Grade 12 pupils wrote their exams, but other grades weren’t able to do so.
“Parents fear for their children because this protest could affect their children.
“Our school is affected by this and I think it is one of the biggest protests we have had.”
He was aware that other schools had closed, the principal said. His school was not easily accessible to protesters.
The closure of the schools due to the threat of protests prompted Education MEC Debbie Schäfer to file criminal complaints against the organisers of the protest.
She said the Ses’Khona People’s Rights Movement and the ANC were behind the protest.
The complaints were lodged under the SA Schools Act.
Said Schäfer: “Our priority is to ensure the safety of all learners and teachers.
“It is high time that people destroying the opportunities of others are held accountable.”
The disruption of schooling at “a critical time” of the year was a cause for concern.
“Primary school learners are writing the Annual National Assessments and high school learners are writing their September examinations.
“Grade 12 learners are writing their September ‘mock examinations’, which are an important assessment tool for both educators and candidates ahead of the National Senior Certificate examinations.”
The matric exams are little more than a month away.
Schäfer said education officials were working with school management at all the affected schools to ensure that examinations and assessments were rescheduled.
A Theewaterskloof councillor, Mark Matthews, said the community was destroying its own property.
“Their grievances included the bad roads. On Monday a contractor was given a contract to fix the potholes and bad roads. Now, with their protest, the work has stopped,” he said.
Theewaterskloof mayor Chris Punt said he would visit the community today.
“I will speak to them only once the N2 has been reopened and there is calm. We have built 923 RDP houses in Grabouw and are continuing to look where we could build more, but we simply cannot satisfy everyone.”
In Kuruman, Northern Cape, the “no road, no school” protest has kept 16 000 pupils out of school for months.