Elandskop school torched amid unrest

These were the words of Sikhululiwe Secondary School’s governing body chairperson Sipho Ngubo following the news that the school was set alight in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The administration block and classrooms of the Elandskop school in KwaZulu-Natal were left in soot, water and ash after it caught fire this morning.

“It’s painful. We got here around 2am while the school was still up in flames. We are heartbroken because they are threatening our children’s future. Whoever did this, we don’t know what state of mind he/she was in. They also broke into the strongroom. We are still waiting for the teachers to identify what has been stolen,” said Ngubo.

He added that it was not easy to build this school. “The first children to learn in this school didn’t even have chairs to sit in. The community came together in building this school. All we want these people to be found. We also want the government to assist us as we don’t know what will happen when schools open. We don’t know how learners and children going to cope as we are approaching examinations,” he said.

A community member who asked not to be named said they were using cellphones for lights as they were trying to extinguish the fire. “We had to take down the ceiling board in order to try and stop fire. People who did this have let us down as a community,” he said.

KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said they are heartbroken to see an attack on infrastructure.

“This is the same situation we found ourselves in during lockdown where many schools in our province were burnt and vandalised. We are now seeing a repeat of that. This is a setback. When schools open, with the little money we have, we will have to find mobile classes for these children while we still reconstructing the school which is something we didn’t budget for. We appeal to the community not to vandalise infrastructure which also assists their children,” said Mahlambi.