Creche row continues

The saga over a change in the lease agreement of a premises housing the Montessori crèche on 12th Avenue continues.

The crèche provides early childhood development support to children from poor families and is operated by a service provider contracted by the city council’s Department of Social Development.

The row is between the community and the department over the issuing of the lease to a church. Initially, the premises was donated by the Rotary Club to the department for use by the community. Community members claim that they were not sufficiently consulted about the change of lease.

Departmental sources said the changes were motivated by poor services being rendered by the service provider, and the new lessee would continue providing crèche services.

However, the community alleges that the new lessee is demanding exorbitant crèche registration and monthly fees which residents can’t afford.

The chairperson of the Montessori crèche committee, Fikile Zulu said a meeting with the department to resolve the matter was held, but did not resolve their issues. “Our main concern is the high fees which the new lessee is proposing, which the already poor families can’t afford from their meagre income,” she said.

Zulu added the principal who ran the crèche had been relocated elsewhere by the department and took the children’s records, making it difficult for the school to get contact details of all parents.

“Some of the children returned from holidays to find the crèche closed and their parents have nowhere to take them as they can’t afford the costs of private ones. It’s not good to keep the families in suspense over a matter that involves a critical stage of their children’s education and development,” she stressed.

Zulu further indicated that if the matter wasn’t resolved soon, they would consider toyi-toying to demand that the initial arrangement be reinstated, or the department would have to meet the parents half-way by contributing to the proposed exorbitant fees.

Meanwhile, the local councillor Chris Mabunda said an agreement to charge parents R70 was reached at a subsequent meeting while discussions continue for a conclusive arrangement. “Children have now returned to the crèche pending the resolution of this matter,” he said.