This tiny community within the City of Mbombela is fed up with the school principal of Portia Shabangu Secondary, Ben Ngwenya, and wants him to vacate office. This time around, the community is accusing the school principal for refusing to admit local children to the school. The community accused Ngwenya of not putting their interests at heart.

This played out last Monday when community members mobilised themselves and marched to the school demanding that it admits a learner who had been allegedly refused space. According to the learner’s sister, Ngwenya had told them that they were not taking any grade 10 and 11 learners for the academic year 2022, however, days later they learned that some learners had been admitted to the school.

“We applied for my younger sister’s admission at this school as we had recently moved to Tekwane South. She could not attend her previous school anymore due to financial issues. At first the principal told us that they were not taking any grade 10 and 11 pupils. He later changed his story and said that my sister would need to repeat grade 10 as the subjects she was doing at her previous school were totally different to the ones they offer at his school. “We did not have a problem with that. He changed his decision again and told us that my sister would not be admitted.”

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She said they went as far as asking for help from their ward councillor, Thabiso Mahlelela, who also tried engaging the school. “That is when the community jumped in to help with the situation, because my sister could not afford not to attend classes,” she continued. The department of education’s spokesperson, Gerald Sambo, said the school did not refuse to admit the learner.

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“According to the report, the school did not refuse to admit the learner, however, the challenge was that the learner’s subject combination did not match the one offered by the school. As a result she had to drop some content subject(s) and start new ones in Grade 11. This can be strenuous on the learner if she’s not properly supported. The school communicated this challenge with the guardian and subsequently developed a support programme for the learner. The learner has since been admitted to the school,” said Sambo