Durban - A charge of violating the rights of children has been laid against KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Peggy Nkonyeni after classrooms and dormitories at Mlokothwa High School, in Nongoma, were found to be in an “appalling state”.
It was laid by DA MPLs Sizwe Mchunu, the party’s provincial leader, provincial education spokeswoman Mbali Ntuli, and Zululand DA leader Hlanganani Gumbi.
They were at the school on Tuesday to inspect infrastructure and the conditions boarders lived in.
Nkonyeni’s spokesman Isaac Luthuli said on Tuesday night that they were aware of the charges, but police had not yet delivered the charge sheet.
Luthuli said Nkonyeni knew about the school and “there was a lot being done to deal with it”.
“What the DA did was petty - scoring political points at the expense of innocent souls. If they were interested in better education, they would have checked with the department as to what is being done about the school.”
“We are worried that their visit could have disturbed teaching.”
He said the charge against the MEC was a publicity stunt.
On Tuesday, The Mercury also visited the school, but the principal was absent and the management refused to show the politicians and journalists around.
About eight pupils were sharing a room.
They fetched water from a tank, then washed in buckets.
Gumbi said they would report what they had seen to the Human Rights Commission.
“It is difficult to put into words and has to be seen to be believed. Pupils are learning and living in disgusting conditions,” he said.
Mlokothwa High was ranked as a quintile 4 school, at which boarding pupils paid R9 000 a year and day scholars about R1 000 a year.
The school had well-built classrooms, but maintenance was not being carried out.
The classroom floors were dirty and ceiling boards in some of the classrooms had collapsed.
The science laboratory was clean and used as a classroom, but there was no chemistry equipment.
The library was locked and pupils said the person in charge was in the classroom most of the time.
Gumbi said there were 13 people employed to work in the school grounds, yet the grass was long and the toilets were clogged.
Some rooms had no doors, broken windows and exposed live electrical wires.
“This is alarming after allegations last year of a teacher sleeping with learners. It leaves young women open to danger,” he said.
The school apparently provided mattresses to girls, while the boys were left to sleep on steel beds and had to bring their own mattresses.
“The headmaster and his deputies appear to be totally indifferent to the plight of learners. They were only interested in taking any responsibility away from themselves.
Gumbi said the charges against Nkonyeni were laid in terms of chapter three, section 30 of the Children’s Act, which sought to ensure that the health, well-being and development of children was safeguarded and that they were protected from any other physical, emotional or mental harm.
Gumbi said they expected Premier Senzo Mchunu and Nkonyeni to take emergency steps to deal with the problems.
Mchunu said of all the boarding schools in KZN, Mlokothwa High School was the worst.
“This school has no sense of the word ‘care’,” he
said.
The Mercury