According to reports, a school in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality of Gauteng was set on fire, having a significant effect on the lives of the school’s staff members and students.
A recent midnight fire at the Barcelona Primary School in Etwatwa, Benoni, destroyed multiple classrooms, displacing an estimated 2000 students from their learning environment.
According to police constable Thabo Mbangata, it is believed that residents of the neighborhood are responsible for the torching.
The school principal’s office was destroyed after the community was mobilized and officials from the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development were taken hostage, according to sources.
In an interview, the department’s spokesperson, Bongiwe Gambu explained:
The Gauteng Department of Education is still adamant that any property facilities and infrastructure that is intentionally destroyed by our communities will not be replaced.
Gambu also emphasized that Gauteng Infrastructure Development only moves at the instruction of its client departments, and in this case, it is Gauteng Education, once they have an approved budget from Gauteng Treasury.
Additionally, the Education Department will need to bring along a scope to them and this is a long process on its own.
It is said that community members have also shared that there were promises of developments since 2016, but nothing has materialized from those promises as yet.
Gauteng Education Minister Panyaza Lesufi also revealed that 100 schools need to be built in the province.
Gambu added that the Gauteng Provincial government has to make sure that it works speedily as possible without breaking the very same legislation that is meant to deal with issues of corruption within the system.
