Durban: A walkway at Dr Macken Mistry Primary School in Newlands East is strewn with broken desks and chairs. In a corner lies water-damaged computers. Staff and helpers throw rubble onto wheelbarrows, while others try to salvage what is left. Three weeks have passed since the floods, and mop-up operations continue.
There is no certainty when the school will reopen.
"There is a tiny stream next to the property. I did not imagine the water would reach the level it had," said Pompey Sukool, the principal, this week.
"The heavy rains caused that tiny stream to grow and burst its banks. The entire building was submerged. The markings on the walls show how high the water rose. After the water flooded the classrooms, it had to work its way out and it churned like a washing machine as it left."
Sukool said equipment and 1 500 tables and chairs were damaged in 20 of the classrooms.
"We have been left with sweet nothing. It is all a wrangled mess. When we arrived following the floods, we battled to open the doors and when we did, they began to break.
"In some classrooms, the ceilings were damaged. The light fittings and plug points no longer work and the stoves and fridges were destroyed."
He said the hall, stockrooms and library were also affected.
"All of our paper and textbooks have been soiled."
He estimated that the damage was around R3 million.
Sukool said senior members from the Department of Education had assessed the damage.
"The district director himself came in and he was happy that the mopping-up process has started. The department is giving us good support, morally and financially."
But he said the department does not have immediate funds to do anything.
Sukool and the staff have secured sponsors to assist.
"On Freedom Day, companies arrived with their teams to clean the area. Mancosa (a distance education institution) was amazing. They gave me a new office desk and they will give us furniture and computers. They want to help us through this journey."
He said he was uncertain when the school would reopen to its 957 pupils.
"If we keep up the pace in terms of our cleaning process, it should be another week before we reopen. I don't think that, at this stage ,we are able to bring in all the pupils at once. We will have to follow a phased approach; one grade at a time.
"What is also slowing down the cleaning-up process is the interruption of water and we don't have electricity. The pumps that are used to pump out the sewer are all out of order and the drainage systems are blocked. So, there is a lot of work that needs to be done."
He said the staff were at the school every day with gloves and cleaning supplies.
"The parents have also been supportive."
Nancy Moodley, the school's department head, said: "The staff have really been hands-on. We do not have toilet facilities up and running right now but we did not make it a problem.
"We want to get the school to where it was. In fact, even better. It is, however, a mammoth task as we have lost everything but I believe we are going to get bigger, better and stronger."
She said the teachers compiled work packages for learners, which they sent via WhatsApp.
"We are working with them via the WhatsApp group we started during the Covid-19 lockdown. We have pupils from impoverished backgrounds who live at the Lakehaven Children's Home and at informal settlements. They don't have access to laptops and equipment for online teaching but we are trying to make it work."
The Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal said it would cost about R442 million to fix damaged infrastructure at schools in the province.
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