MALALANE – The provincial Department of Education is investigating the closure of a local school, in order for a teacher to attend an ANC election campaign at the Driekoppes Staduim on April 23.
The party’s president, Mr Jacob Zuma was the main speaker at the rally.
The provincial spokesman for education in the DA, Mr James Masango, strongly condemned this act. According to Masango the learners were turned away from the school with the instruction that there would be no classes, because Zuma was at the stadium.
“The president’s election campaign has taken precedence over education in Mpumalanga after a school closed its doors for the day so teachers could attend an ANC rally which he addressed. Yesterday pupils of Schoemansdal Combined were sent home with the message that there would be no classes,” he said.
Masango said the ANC should be ashamed of itself, as this was a selfish act of trampling over citizens’ basic rights to garner votes.
“There is absolutely no justification for interrupting our children’s education for an election campaign, and Zuma and the ANC should be ashamed of themselves. Instead, this illustrates the hypocrisy of the president, who selfishly trampled over others’ basic rights in a desperate attempt to win the hearts and minds of those the party has long forgotten. Our children are the future, and the education they receive is critical to acquire the skills to get decent jobs and build better lives.”
According to the provincial spokesman for the department, Mr Jasper Zwane, it is investigating the matter and was not aware of the incident.
“The only person who is responsible for granting the schools a day off is the HOD, and in this case she did not give Schoemansdal Combined permission to do so. As a department we are not aware of such an incident, however, we are going to investigate to establish what exactly happened. Should it be found that the allegations are true, disciplinary actions will be instituted to the principal of the affected schools,” said Zwane.
