Community members fear that unsafe conditions due to dilapidated infrastructure at Kgwatlhele Primary School outside Mokopane in Limpopo will result in tragedy. Since several classes were found to be unsafe and ordered closed in April, learners of different grades must share classroom space while they wait for the Department of Education to deliver on its promise of providing temporary classrooms.

School principal Thivedi Ledwaba confirmed that learners in grades R, 2, 3, 4 and 7 had to share a space since April this year, with up to 77 learners in a classroom.

It has been almost a year since the Department of Education promised to provide mobile classrooms, but nothing has been done yet, a source confirmed.

The Polokwane Review previously reported about the Labour Department’s closure of Kgwatlhele Primary School in April due to the unsafe conditions of the building structure.

“The school was closed by labour inspectors to safeguard the learners and teachers,” said Lerato Mashamba, provincial communication officer in a media statement. The department prohibited the use of certain classrooms since the closure.

The closure was enforced after a complaint by parents during the first week of April about the state of the school buildings.

“Part of the building was not compliant with the requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” Mashamba explained.

She added that cracks are visible from the inside and outside of the building, which poses an immediate danger of structural failure and/or collapse.

Mashamba said the administration building has cracks visible from the bottom of the foundation to the top of the roof.

“Subsequent to the prohibition notice issued, the Department of Basic Education was also issued with a contravention notice for failing to conduct a hazards identification and risk assessment, failing to ensure that the electrical installation is done safely by a competent person, and for not being able to produce a copy of the Certificate of Compliance for electrical installation, which is a legal requirement to assure the building users and inspectors that the installation is safe.”

Departmental spokesperson Mike Maringa confirmed that the department is aware of the conditions at the school.

“The District Infrastructure Unit will facilitate the procurement of mobile classrooms as an interim measure and the school was added to the list of infrastructural projects prioritised in the next year.”

He says their contract with the service provider that supplied the mobile classrooms ended and that procurement processes had to start afresh.

“We are in the process to finalise the contract. There are many schools in need of mobile classrooms, of which Kgwatlhele Primary School is one. We will start to deliver classrooms next year.”