Almost a decade later and KZN pupils still brave raging rivers to get to school

Durban - School pupils living in Malanga, KwaHlazakazi, outside Dundee, either have to abandon their studies or leave their homes and seek accommodation closer to school to avoid the danger of wading through the uMzinyathi river daily on their way to and from school.

Crossing the uMzinyathi River twice a day is too exhausting and dangerous for many children who move away or end up dropping out of school, community members and former pupils said.

Malanga is a deep rural area about 60km outside the Dundee town centre.

The Mercury visited the area this week and experienced first-hand the perils children encounter on their way to various schools across the river.

The purpose of the visit was to determine whether there had been any developments since the newspaper wrote about the pupils’ plight, detailing their dangerous river crossings, nine years ago.

A feature on the same river crossing in The Mercury nine years ago. In almost a decade, nothing has changed.

NINE years ago, The Mercury highlighted the dangers pupils in Elandskraal, 40km outside Dundee, faced while trying to get to school and back. This picture, which has been doing the rounds on social media recently, portrayed the desperate need for a bridge in the KwaDuna, KwaWoza and Ntekeni areas. Pupils at Ekhamanzi Primary School and Mphelandaba High School near Greytown still face the same journey. Picture: Doctor Ngcobo

Apart from braving the river, children also have to endure an arduous journey to school through dense forest, which is home to poisonous snakes such as puff adders.

While The Mercury team waited on the river banks on Wednesday afternoon, one pupil, Mxolisi Shabalala, 19, of Phathizwe, arrived to make his crossing.

He stripped down to his underwear and put his clothes in a big plastic bucket.

With the bucket in one hand and his school books held over his shoulder, he slowly waded through more than waist-high water to the other side.

“I have found a place closer to the school, and I will be staying there from the beginning of February,” he said.

Shabalala said he had got used to the crossing.

“But this is tiring and is not easy. That is why I want to be closer to the school,” he said.

This is how locals cross the driver. They deposit their clothes into the bucket and walk across. Video: Doctor Ngcobo/African News Agency(ANA)

Community members said many former pupils had moved away from the area since The Mercury team’s last visit.

Some in the lower grades had been assisted by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, which provided transport so that they no longer have to make the perilous crossing.

“Many children, especially girls, drop out because they can’t swim in the morning and in the afternoon,” community member Hali Mbhele said.

“The positive thing is a road was built on this side of the river. The young children do not have to cross, and are being transported to another school close to Nquthu.

“But the problem is that the school only goes up to Grade 7. The pupils who want to study beyond Grade 7 have to cross the river because schools that offer Grades 8 to 12 are all across the river,” he said.

“Many have either moved to Dundee or Nquthu, or found places with relatives who live across the river in order to be safe.

“They come back during the holidays. Others simply dropped out.”

The hardship kids in the community go through to get to school. Journalists from The Mercury had to traverse the river to get to the other side, where the school is located. Video: Doctor Ngcobo/African News Agency(ANA)

Mbhele, 31, said he was one of those who had dropped out. He was in Grade 11 at the time, he said.

“When I was in school I had dreams. I do not remember what those dreams were. I sometimes wish that I had stayed in school and my life would be different now,” he said.

He said crossing the river had been torturous. “Imagine having to swim across in the morning and again in the afternoon? That is very tiring and frustrating, at some point you just feel that this is not worth it, and you quit,” Mbhele said.

“There is no good period in which you can cross safely. In winter the water is unbearably cold in the morning. In summer it rains and the water rises. It became extremely dangerous to cross. There were many times when it rained and I could not go to school.

“When the river is flooding, even the most experienced swimmers struggle to get across,” he said.

PUPIL Mxolisi Shabalala, 19, of Pathizwe, makes his perilous daily crossing of the uMzinyathi River on his way to school this week. Many schoolchildren from Malanga, a deep rural area outside Dundee, have moved away to get closer to a school or dropped out of school after finding the journey from home to school too arduous.

Pictures: Doctor Ngcobo African News Agency (ANA)

Pupils crossing the river to get to school.

Picture: Doctor Ngcobo African News Agency (ANA)

Local headman Patrick Mbhele said there had been many discussions about building a bridge, but nothing had materialised. “People come here with cameras. They take pictures and never return. Many people have been washed away by this river. Fortunately, no children have been victims,” he said.

He said the inability to cross at will was also threatening the stability of the area. “It’s allowing stock theft to spiral out of control in the area. If your cow crosses the river you can see it cross, but you cannot get to it, and by the time the police get there, it has disappeared,” he said.

Education Department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said the department would engage its district office to conduct a feasibility study.

“We will not deprive pupils of the opportunity to learn.

“If there is a demand we will

add another grade to the (other) school.

“We do not want a situation where pupils have to drop out or rent,” he said.