Durban - Some Durban school principals are concerned that they might be forced to close their schools this week after municipal officials threatened to disconnect the water and electricity due to non-payment by the Department of Education.
It is understood that at least six Phoenix schools that fall under Section 20 of the Schools Act were already disconnected on Friday.
The education department yesterday said it was aware of the issue and would be meeting with the relevant schools today.
Section 20 schools receive little money directly but get services and textbooks paid for by the provincial department while Section 21 schools pay their own bills with money collected from school fees and fundraising initiatives.
One principal said that around 11.30am on Friday, municipal officials visited the school to carry out the disconnections.
He said the municipal official told him that the school owed around R90 000 to the municipality for services rendered.
“I pleaded with the woman to give us until Monday morning to sort everything out with the department before they disconnected. The issue is that we, at the school, do not receive the accounts as they are sent directly to the department who settle the bills with the municipality,” he said.
He said he then contacted other schools in the area and arranged to meet with the department.
One of the schools affected was Brailsford Primary in Sunford. The school has two Grade RR classes and a total of 760 pupils.
“We pleaded with the municipal officials to give us a chance until we found out from the department what is happening. The principal told the officials that the fault does not lie with the school but the only people that would suffer are the children,” a school official said.
Another school principal said when the officials arrived, they immediately called the municipality to query the disconnection.
“We were told that the municipal official was not meant to disconnect the lights and water but was only meant to serve a warning or notice of intent to disconnect if the accounts were not paid by a certain time.
“At this point, we are unsure of what is going on but we are meeting with the department on Monday morning,” the principal said.
Speaking on behalf of provincial MEC Mthandeni Dlungwane, spokesperson Kwazi Mthethwa said the department was investigating the schools’ municipal accounts to determine why or if payments were not made to the municipality.
“A similar situation happened last year and the mayor and MEC met to have a discussion around this.
"While we understand that the municipality needs to ensure that there is revenue collection, our focus is on the pupils.
"We will do whatever it takes to get the schools reconnected,” he said.
eThekwini municipality did not respond to a request for comment on Sunday.