A public participation process has recently been set in motion in order to move Rotara School from its current stand at Watersedge to Carletonville.

This week, Mr Mekiah Mugonda of Simmek Projects, the company that is handling the public participation process on behalf of the Department of

Education, shed more light on the project. Although there have previously been talks of moving Rotara School from its current stand because of ground stability issues, particularly sinkholes, Mugonda says the latest discussions took on a new urgency after Government purchased the land to which they intended to relocate the school about two to three years ago. He said the decision to move the school was taken in close consultation with the Council of Geoscience, a semi-governmental organisation which provides technical support on ground stability problems. The new site, which is 8,5 hectares in size, is situated on the open ground on the western side of the road, extending from Onyx Drive to the P111 road. Both Mugonda and Mr Carlos Rebelo, the municipal councillor in whose ward the new school will fall, confirmed that they had held a meeting, with key organisations that could be affected by the project, on 20 April. It involved the police and Community Policing Forum and people staying in the surrounding streets. A larger public meeting has also been planned for the near future. Mugonda told the Herald that one issue that has already been raised is the possibility of moving the Rotalia Centre for disabled adults as well. Such a move has not been part of the planned project till now as Rotalia falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Social Services and Rotara School under the Department of Education. Be that as it may, it could possibly still be incorporated into the plan. “If it should come to that, it would not be a train smash as there is enough space for Rotalia as well,” Mugonda assured on Tuesday. He added, though, that the latest developments are still only part of the greater public participation process that has to be followed, according to the law, before the final decision to proceed with the move of the school can be taken.