Justice for electrocuted schoolgirl

Geluksdal – The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) has been ordered by the High Court of South Africa to fix the poor infrastructure at Geluksdal Secondary School.
This after a 17-year-old matric learner, Maubrey Mahudu, was electrocuted at the school’s mobile classrooms on January 30, 2017.
She died on the school grounds after taking off her shoes as she approached one of the two mobile classrooms as the grounds had been flooded during a thunderstorm.
The earth leakage, cables and circuit breakers had been stolen from the school and the school reported the matter to the district office and provincial education department every month for a year, but officials failed to replace it.

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Mahudu’s family, through their legal representative, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr Inc (CDH), approached the court to make sure the school infrastructure is repaired, replaced and properly secured so a tragedy like this never happens again.
Judge Senyatso was in agreement that there is a proper case in this case, and the relief must be granted.
The department is given 15 days to show the court what steps it will take to fix unsafe infrastructure.
In their statement, Section 27 said they welcome the relief granted by Judge Senyatsi of the High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Local division Johannesburg) in the unopposed matter of Mahudu and Others v. Minister of Basic Education and Others.
Researcher at an education NGO Julia Chaskalson said they intend to monitor that the infrastructure problems at the school are resolved speedily to prevent further violations of learners’ rights.

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“Throughout the litigation proceedings, government officials have remained silent and have not engaged on this matter.
“It is disappointing that education officials have remained unreachable about a case surrounding the safety of learners while at school,” he said.
She explained the longstanding infrastructure issues at the school that include unsafe electrical equipment and lack of security resulting in the tragic death of a matric learner in January 2017.
“The GDE’s failure to replace life-saving and statutorily required circuit breakers and earth leakage equipment that had been stolen from the school resulted in the learner dying of electrocution when they touched the metal doorframe of a mobile classroom in a thunderstorm.
“Five years since the incident, the GDE has failed to fix the unsafe infrastructure at the school.
“Learners remain at risk of injury or death while at school. The ruling is important because it forces the GDE to urgently fix the unsafe infrastructure,” she added.
Section 27 is calling on education authorities, especially Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, to do the right thing and ensure the unsafe infrastructure at Geluksdal Secondary is fixed without delay.

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