School uniforms woes for parents in first week
Some parents had to resort to borrowing uniforms as they could not get them in time from the supplier
MBOMBELA – In the days leading up to the opening of schools on Wednesday, frustrated parents took to social media looking for people who could help them get the last required clothing items for their children.
This was due to local retailer, Rieba Clothing, failing to deliver uniforms on time, despite parents having paid in November.
Some resorted to asking the community for available schoolwear elsewhere. Bertha Benson went to the clothing bank, but could not find the right size for her child.
“I am currently calling everyone I know to find pants to borrow while we wait for ours. My son wears a size or two larger than most of his friends,” she said. The retailer is the sole supplier of uniforms for Laerskool Bergland, Laerskool Laeveld, St Peter’s and Nelspruit Primary. It also stocks clothes for Hoërskool Bergvlam, Hoërskool Rob Ferreira, Laeveld Akademie and Pro Gratia School.
Laerskool Bergland’s uniform was the most sought after, and the most scarce.
A mother of two pupils at the school, Denise Schutte, found that some of her grade one daughter’s clothes the colour was wrong, after she compared it with her older daughter’s. “I returned the skorts on Monday and they said they would call me back. I still haven’t heard from them,” she said. She also just got one of the two pairs of socks she bought.
School uniforms are normally priced according to the child’s size. Parents pay between R3 600 and R4 200 for a full high school outfit. This does not include the senior clothes to be added once the pupils are in matric. Parents can expect to pay half of that for primary schoolwear.
Schutte said she was told that there was no stock, and that they were waiting to get from overseas. “I think it is unfair that there is one supplier of school uniforms in Mbombela. We are no longer a town. We are now a city which has one supplier,” she added.
The national Department of Basic Education released a circular that aims to discourage the single-supplier approach. This comes after parents countrywide approached the Competition Commission decrying stockists of having a monopoly through their partnerships with schools.
Sipho Ngwema, commission spokesman, said it has found that a total of 30 per cent of schools has not complied with the circular, stating that they were not aware of it. The commission is currently in the final stages of its research, with a report expected to be released soon.
Wyna Uys, the owner of Rieba Clothing, said they are in the process of ensuring that everyone has their uniforms. She could, however, not say how many people finally received theirs. When asked by Lowvelder why there was such a delay, despite parents having paid full prices in November, she replied, “There are a variety of reasons.”
“Every situation is different,” she added. Uys went on to say there was a delay in the availability of the winter uniforms, which they were still waiting on.
