Johannesburg - Gauteng’s acting Social Development MEC Panyaza Lesufi on Wednesday slammed "shameless SGBs" for shutting their doors on homeless people, but the chief executive of the Federation of School Governing Bodies of South Africa says none of their schools have been approached to assist.
This comes after the Gauteng government announced last week it would be utilising boarding facilities at public schools to house the homeless as the country intensified efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Lesufi tweeted: “It’s a shame that we’ve to place fellow South Africans in tents while public assets like boarding schools are standing empty because self centred SGBs are refusing to open up schools to accommodate our people.
“Is it because homeless people are half human beings? #ShamelessSGBs. They are advising their members to resist accommodating the homeless in a state property”.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/ShamelessSGBs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ShamelessSGBs pic.twitter.com/z5VOaoIohs
— Panyaza Lesufi (@Lesufi)
Acting Social Development MEC Panyaza Lesufi does a walkabout in Tshwane, where some of the homeless are being kept. Picture: Supplied
But speaking to IOL on Wednesday, Paul Colditz, the chief executive of Fedsas, said none of their 300 schools in Gauteng had been approached by the government.
“We have said to our members that make sure the safety and the well-being of the pupils is paramount. We are aware some of our schools have been identified, but we have not had any members approach directly and so far none of our schools have reported to us that they are being used,” he said.
Colditz said they were urging members – 2 033 schools around the country – to make sure "all risks are covered" in terms of evacuation, threat of the virus and potential damage to property.
“We have seen in the Cape how difficult it was for the church to evict illegal immigrants. Now imagine this situation where we could be dealing with South Africans. What do you do if they refuse to vacate? How do you make sure children will not be contaminated once they have moved out.
“We are saying to members that they must make sure that the safety of our pupils is guaranteed once they have evacuated,” he said.
Colditz said the letter they sent to schools in Gauteng and Limpopo was meant to clarify the schools' legal rights were they to be approached. He said there was nothing in the regulations or in South African law that compelled schools to open them up for anyone, but for schooling purposes.
“In terms of the present regulations, there is no obligation to utilise the schools as accommodation for homeless people. Government has the power to issue such a regulation, but even if they do not, if they want to use a school for the homeless, they must negotiate that with the school governing body,” said Colditz.